The Goal of Masters
by Apparuerit Diabolo et Loqui
Summary: Ash finds an injured Mew not far from Pallet Town. Join a non-retarded Ash, Young!Cythia and Misty as they travel the Pokemon world to attain their goals. Pairing undecided, somewhat AU, mechanics slightly modified, based on 'The Journey of a Master'.
1. 01 - The Beginning

**Welcome to my first Pokemon fic.  
**

**Please read the AN at the start as it covers what things I'm making AU. I don't want reviews/PMs from people telling me I've gotten something wrong.**

**Yes, I changed my pen name. I really didn't want to keep using my actual name for fanfic. Metaphorical cookies for those who can translate it literally.**

**This fic is based on the - now abandoned - 'Journey of a Master' with some themes from 'Red Victory'  
**

* * *

**The Goal of Masters**

**Chapter One:**

**The Beginning**

Ash Ketchum woke up at an unusually early hour for a teen of thirteen. Today was the day – the day Ash had agreed with his mum on – that he could start his journey; his journey to become a Pokémon Master.

Getting up out of bed he disturbed the sleeping Pikachu on his bed, waking him.

"Pika –" said the Pikachu before being cut off by a yawn.

"Hey buddy, you've got to get up. Today is the day!" said Ash causing Pikachu to perk up.

Shuffling around his room, Ash sought out the clothes to wear for the first day of his journey and had a quick shower. After getting dressed he proceeded downstairs to the kitchen – Pikachu in tow – to where his mother was making breakfast.

"Good morning, dear," said Ash's mum – Delia Ketchum – as he walked in.

"Pika-pi!" said Pikachu indigently at being ignored.

"Oh – and a good morning to you as well, Pikachu," she added sweetly. "I was expecting to have to wake you up, dear. We don't want a repeat of three years ago, do we?"

Ash cringed slightly at the thought, though ultimately it had been a good thing because without it he would never have become best buddies with Pikachu.

Professor Oak – the resident Pokémon Professor in Pallet Town – only handed out starter Pokémon to the children of Pallet Town one day a year. No one really knew why but Ash suspected it was so every child in that age group started training Pokémon at the same time and so they could compare progress with each other without complaints of someone else starting earlier or later.

The year Ash turned ten – the age you could get your Pokémon Trainers Licence – Ash accidentally broke his alarm clock and was very late; causing him to miss out on the normal starter Pokémon. Instead, Professor Oak had managed to scrounge up a Pikachu for Ash to use a starter.

Pikachu was very reluctant at first and flat out refused to go inside his Pokéball. It wasn't until several days later when the pair was attacked by a group of Spearow and Ash shielded Pikachu from their attacks that Pikachu warmed up to Ash. They've been inseparable since.

The pair had travelled all around the area surrounding Pallet Town – managing to capture a Magikarp and a Pidgeotto – and today was the day they could finally travel further afield and complete in the Pokémon League. Until now Ash's mum had said he wasn't old enough and Pikachu hadn't been trained enough for him to be travelling out on his own. Most parents and guardians were the same; telling their children they couldn't leave the safety of home until their Pokémon was strong enough to stop them from being killed by wild Pokémon and that they were mature enough. Most children could leave by the time they were thirteen or fourteen.

Delia had initially set the age her son could start his journey at fourteen but Ash had managed to haggle it down to thirteen and a half because that would coincide with the date that Gary Oak – Professor Oak's grandson – would start his journey.

Together Delia and Ash ate the breakfast Delia had prepared while Pikachu happily ate tomato sauce with a little bit of Pokémon food mixed into it. During the meal they didn't speak, Delia projecting both happiness that Ash was starting his journey and sadness that he was finally leaving the nest.

"I went through the stuff you packed, dear," she said finally breaking the silence. "You needed more underwear and socks."

If Ash had been consuming something liquid-like – such as breakfast cereal – he probably would have done a spit take at that; instead he nearly choked on his eggs and toast as he tried to swallow it too fast.

"Th-thanks mum," he said weakly in between coughs and sputters as he tried to clear his airways.

o0o0o0o

With his mum having finished giving him a weepy goodbye and Pikachu on his shoulder Ash stepped out the front door and into the wide world ready to start his journey; except maybe he should say goodbye to Professor Oak first – he did give Ash Pikachu after all.

So Ash took off down the road intent of thanking Professor Oak before he left town only to find a small crowd gathered near the gate leading to the Laboratory; in the centre of this crowd stood Gary Oak.

"People of Pallet Town, I – Gary Oak – will bring glory to our humble town when I become a Pokémon Master!" he said to the small crowd.

To Ash's surprise there were no cheerleaders or a chauffeured sports car, but Gary was still as arrogant and big headed as always.

When Ash and Gary – along with two other new trainers in Pallet Town – received their Pokémon, Gary had refused to let Ash know who he'd chosen. It wasn't until several months later that Ash had found out when he came across Gary and his Squirtle training in the forest surrounding Pallet Town.

"Ah – Ashey-boy!" exclaimed Gary as he noticed Ash at the edge of the crowd. "Come to see me off? What is it; didn't your mum say you have to be fourteen before you can start your journey?"

"Actually Gary, it's today," shot back Ash. "Isn't that right Pikachu?"

"Pika!" replied Pikachu firmly as his cheeks lit up with electricity.

"Well Ashey-boy, how much did you need to beg for that?"

Ash ignored what Gary had said. In some ways you _could_ say that constantly asking your mother until she wore down begging…

"Hey, Gary," asked Ash as he ignored the previous comment. "Is the Professor in?"

"Yea, Gramps is in," replied Gary. Seeing this as his cue to leave Gary started to proclaim. "Well, Pallet Town, I leave on my difficult and dangerous journey. I thank you for your kind support."

With that Gary walked past the crowd and out of town to the cheering of fans.

Having finished with his verbal spar, Ash walked up the path to the door of Professor Oak's laboratory while Pikachu sat on his shoulder.

"Professor?" called out Ash as he entered the lab.

"Oh – hello Ash," said Professor Oak as he looked up from his computer. "How are you? Isn't today the day you leave on your journey? I do recall Delia said something about it."

"It is, Professor," replied Ash. "Me and Pikachu are ready for it. I just thought I should say goodbye and thank you for giving me Pikachu."

Professor Oak gave a small chuckle while Pikachu said 'Pikachu!' in agreement.

"It's no problem, Ash," said the Professor. "Pikachu was costing me a fortune in electrical wiring anyway."

Ash gave Pikachu a smile at that while Pikachu looked slightly abashed.

"So yea – thanks again," repeated Ash. "I dunno when I'll see you next but I'll try to keep you updated."

"Well – actually, if you time it right you might see me in Cerulean City," said the Professor. "I'm attending an archaeology conference there."

"Archaeology?" asked Ash. "But aren't you a Professor of Pokémon?"

"I may be but it doesn't mean I can't attend an archaeology conference."

o0o0o0o

Ash and Pikachu spent a good portion of the day walking towards Viridian City. During their walk from Pallet Town the pair had so far seen many Pokémon; but chose not to try and capture any.

Earlier in life Ash might have tried to capture everything in sight that moved but now it just didn't seem right to capture a Pokémon that didn't have much potential; a Pokémon that just wouldn't stand up to some serious battling down the track and be discarded – It just flat out didn't seem like the right thing to do.

So Ash made the decision to only capture a Pokémon he would want to stick with for life and wouldn't neglect through non-use.

With the few hours of sunlight left they set up camp and spent those hours remaining of the day trying to master Iron Tail. They had been working on it off and on for several months after seeing how poorly an electric-type like Pikachu fared against the Pewter City Gym Leader; Brock.

It had only been because of an enormous amount of luck and the emergency fire suppression system that they had won the battle. So, ever since the pair had been learning Iron Tail; except the intention had been to finish it _before_ they started their journey – but too late for that.

"Pikachu," said Ash as they pair relaxed after another failed Iron Tail training session. "I think we need to see a demonstration in real life of Iron Tail to get it right. The guide in the Pokédex is pretty good but it just doesn't beat seeing the real thing in action."

"Pi-ka," agreed Pikachu exhaustedly.

After eating a hot canned meal the pair went to bed – Pikachu snuggling up in the warmth of Ash's sleeping bag.

o0o0o0o

So far this morning Ash and Pikachu hadn't seen much in the way of Pokémon – just a few Rattata – along with someone else's camp; though the owner of the camp wasn't in sight. On top of that dark clouds were approaching; darkening the sky even thought it had only just turned midday.

"Isn't this the clearing with the Spearow?" asked Ash to Pikachu as they gazed around the newfound clearing.

It certainly looked like the clearing with _those_ Spearow to Pikachu. Pikachu didn't particularly like the Spearow very much but they had being instrumental in forging the now-unbreakable bond between Pikachu and his trainer so maybe they did have something he should thank them for.

"Pika!" replied Pikachu now he was sure it was indeed that clearing.

"Keep your eyes out, Pikachu," said Ash. "I don't think either of us wants to get mobbed by them again."

The pair then cautiously made their way across the clearing, keeping an eye out for the Spearow.

"I don't think they're around here anymore," said Ash not having seen a feather of them.

At that moment Pikachu's ears twitched as his superior hearing picked up something in the distance.

"Pikapi, Pika!" exclaimed Pikachu getting Ash's attention and pointing off into the forest. Once Pikachu had gotten his trainers attention he ran off in the direction he had been pointing at.

"Pikachu, wait!" shouted Ash before he realised Pikachu wasn't coming back sprinted off after him.

As Ash followed Pikachu through the trees he could begin to hear what sounded very much like a lot of Spearow; a sound he and Pikachu were _very_ familiar with.

Ash eventually broke through the forest and into a small clearing to find Pikachu about let of a Thunderbolt. Ash was about to ask Pikachu what would he achieve by pissing off the four odd dozen Spearow circling around the clearing when he saw just why there were in the clearing.

"Pikachu! Keep the circling Spearow back with Thunderbolt!" shouted out Ash as Pikachu directed the bolts of lightning towards the Spearow high in the sky.

"Piii-kaa-chuu!" said Pikachu as he unleashed the first bolt; lighting the clearing a yellowy-gold colour.

Ash had no idea what the Spearow were attacking other than it was small, pink and on the ground being attacked by several Spearow – circling much closer than the others – who were taking turns to swoop down and peck at it.

The initial thought had been to direct Pikachu's Thunderbolts at the Spearow attacking the mystery Pokémon but – unfortunately – Pikachu's Thunderbolts had a habit of causing some… _collateral_ damage and striking more than the designated target; something unacceptable given that the mystery Pokémon was clearly very injured.

With no other clear option Ash chose to enter the fray himself; selecting a thick heavy stick off the ground from the edge of clearing while Pikachu tried to keep the rest of the Spearow from interfering with more cries of 'Piii-kaa-chuu!' and Thunderbolts.

Club in hand Ash charged towards the mobbed mystery Pokémon and took a swing at the nearest Spearow; striking it on the wing.

"Rooow!" it called out as its momentum from the dive carried it to the ground where it crushed with a soft 'thump'. The now injured Spearow forced itself to its feet and did its best to fly away at full pace; it's now damaged wing flapping meekly.

The other Spearow – not eager to earn their own injuries from an angry trainer with the big stick –retreated further into the air.

"Pikachu, now! Thunderbolt!" shouted out Ash as he gave another swing in the direction of the Spearow; causing them to retreat another dozen feet further into the air.

Pikachu didn't need it explained to him which Spearow his trainer meant with the clear shot available to him.

o0o0o0o

With most of the Spearow now hovering outside of Thunderbolt range – while the few still inside struggled to recover from Paralysis, and get away from the trainer and his Pikachu – Ash could finally focus his attention on the mystery pink Pokémon.

"Mew, mew, mew," the mystery Pokémon – '_Probably called 'Mew''_ thought Ash obviously – mumbled in delirium.

Ash touched the Pokémon's forehead and found it to be very cold and clammy while its body was covered in assorted bruises and cuts – most probably from the Peck attacks of the Spearow. Worse still, the steadily darkening clouds turned out to be those of a thunderstorm; lightning and thunder were approaching in the distance.

Dropping his bag while Pikachu stood guard, Ash fished out the blanket the pair usually sat on while they ate their meals. Gingerly he picked up the delirious pink Pokémon and placed it in the centre of the blanket before carefully wrapping it up while taking care not to cover it face and accidentally suffocate it.

The most immediate concern fixed Ash retrieved his Pokédex hoping to find out more about this Pokémon – for all he knew a low body temperature was normal for them.

"_Mew; the legendary psychic Pokémon – little is known about this Pokémon though some speculate it is the ancestor to all other Pokémon because of its unique DNA structure and ability to use nearly every known move," _said the Pokédex in its electronic voice.

"_Fuck,_" swore Ash in shock before remembering why he had gotten his Pokédex out in the first place.

Checking the little biological information available in his Pokédex about the legendary Mew Ash found its body temperature which – according to the sketchy data available – should be slightly colder than a human body temperature; Mew was _much_ colder than that.

"Dammit," muttered Ash he glanced around the clearing in thought. This Mew clearly needed medical attention fast; he could either carry it to Viridian City – which carried the problem of _how_ far Viridian City actually was away, it could be twenty minutes or it could be another day for all he knew – or he could turn back to Pallet Town – which he _knew_ would only take about five or six hours assuming he took the direct route instead of the scenic route he had chosen on the way up here.

Then; suddenly Ash remembered.

"There was a bike!" said Ash to no one in particular while Pikachu ignored his trainer's antics and kept watch for anymore foolhardy Spearow who thought they could get near to him or his trainer.

Back at the camp he and Pikachu had passed was a bicycle. With a bike it would probably only take an hour or less to get back to Professor Oak's lab. On top of that it was only five minutes back down the road at a run. Taking it might _technically_ have been stealing but Mew's life was a bit more important than that and he could return it later.

"Pikachu, follow quickly and keep your eyes out for more Spearow," ordered Ash quickly as he carefully picked up the wrapped-up Mew and started off at a run back towards Pallet Town and a soon-to-be-stolen bicycle just as it started to rain.

o0o0o0o

Misty Waterflower – aspiring water Pokémon Master and Cerulean City's youngest of four gym leaders – was walking back from a new lake she had found. She unfortunately hadn't caught anything today and had to cut her fishing short after only half an hour because of the approaching thunderstorm; after all a fishing rod is very similar to a lightning rod.

As Misty approached he campsite she heard the indiscernible sound of some sort of Pokémon attack followed by a bolt of lightning shooting up to the sky at a forty-five degree angle; nearly striking what appeared to by some sort of flying Pokémon.

'_Probably some more of those nasty Spearow,'_ she thought as she broke into a run fearing for the safety of her hopefully still hole-free tent and dry sleeping bag.

Just as Misty got into sight of her campsite she saw a boy in a cap riding a bicycle quickly down the path and off in the opposite direction to Viridian City. It then took a few moments for Misty to realise it was _her_ bicycle the boy was riding.

Before she completely blew her top Misty picked up the pace and continued running towards her camp to find it bike-less.

"Damn thief!" she shouted. "That little bugger stole my bike!"

After she had taken a few minutes to cool down Misty realised; it was going _away_ from Viridian City – towards Pallet Town she remembered – there aren't exactly many places the thief could go with her bike.

Making her decision Misty packed up her camp in the rain and braved the storm to catch her thief in sleepy Pallet Town.

o0o0o0o

Ash rode the _'borrowed'_ bicycle as fast as he could towards Pallet Town and Professor Oak's lab. Pikachu was sitting in the basket out the front of the bike and had initially let off the odd Thunderbolt at the – then-still – pursuing Spearow; however after the first nearby lightning strike landed with a bone rattling '_boom' _the Spearow quickly abandoned the chase to roost in some trees and not get struck by the lightning quickly filling the dark sky.

Meanwhile Mew – who to Ash's thanks was still making 'Mew' noises and whimpering every so often – was stuffed inside Ash's jacket to keep warm.

Eventually – to what felt like an eternity to Ash – Pallet Town came into sight over the crest of a hill. Keeping up the pace Ash rode to the foot of the tiny hill the Professor's Lab was situated on and quickly dismounted the bicycle – abandoning it at the sign at the front of the lab – before racing to the front door with Pikachu at his heels and Mew in his arms.

"Professor!" called out Ash as he rapped on the front door of the Professors Lab with his free hand.

When the Professor didn't answer the door immediately Ash tried again.

"Professor! Professor Oak!" he shouted this time as he banged on the door.

Eventually – what once again felt like an eternity to Ash – the door to the Lab was opened by the Professor.

"Yes, yes, I'm coming," said Professor Oak as he unlocked and opened the door to his Lab. "What's the matt –"

The Professor paused mid-sentence in surprise when he saw a drenched Ash at the door.

"Ash, my boy, what are you doing back here so soon?" he asked.

"Professor – you need to help; this Pokémon is really sick," Ash managed to get out very fast as soon as Professor Oak stopped speaking.

Without hesitation the Professor glanced at the wrapped bundle, unceremoniously abandoned his coffee cup on a nearby shelve, turned around and led Ash to the medical clinic as he continued talking.

"What the matter with it?" he asked as he rummaged through several cabinets as he collected a variety of medicines.

"It was being attacked by a whole heap of Spearow but I think there's more to it than that," started Ash. "It's really cold – colder than it should be – and it should have been able to get itself away from the Spearow. I think it must have eaten something or caught something nasty."

"Hmm," hummed the Professor as he continued collecting medicine, grabbing a few extra things for poisoning and common illnesses. "What type is it?"

"It's a psychic-type, Professor – a Mew."

Professor Oak paused with his back to Ash for several seconds in shock before blinking a few times and then quickly gathering what things he still needed before moving them onto the table next to the bed in the clinic. Having done so he finally took the time to actually take a look at the Pokémon Ash had brought in.

o0o0o0o

Professor Oak was shocked to say the least. He was already slightly surprised that Ash was at his door when he should have be in Viridian City by now but that was nothing in comparison to a trainer who had just started his journey stumbling across a legendary Mew!

Regardless, Ash had been right; she – as he knew now after checking – had eaten something funny. On top of that _and_ the injuries sustained by the Fearow she was rather emaciated and underweight – or so he thought; he didn't have much data on the subject to know what exactly the expected weight of a Mew is.

This though still didn't make much sense; how does a legendary Pokémon starve and then eat some sort of poisonous plant? Professor Oak found that answer in the slightly more vast data available to him as a researcher; this Mew was tiny.

Though they had never managed to weigh a Mew before they did have the odd elusive photograph and thus they knew how tall they usually were and how long their bulbous tails usually were. So the safe conclusion was that this Mew was young; how young exactly though he didn't know. If Mew was young it would explain why she ate something she shouldn't have and had trouble finding food in the first place.

Still, this opened further questions like how do Mew breed? Very few legendaries had been documented to breed. The few that had included Lugia who had been found to breed near the Whirl Islands in the Johto Region and Rayquaza who were highly prolific – for a legendary Pokémon that is – high in the atmosphere.

Getting back to important job of treating a seriously ill Mew, Professor Oak pushed the divergent thoughts out of his mind while a concerned Ash and Pikachu stood silently to the side watching with worry and concern.

o0o0o0o

It took several hours of injecting Mew with various medicines – after testing her blood in various machines, stitching up serious gashes, and bandaging several sprains to get her up to a level of health where her own body could start dealing with the prolific injuries.

"Ash, why don't you go home and get some rest?" asked the Professor after tending to Mew's most pressing injuries. "You look dead on your feet."

The Professor was probably right; Ash did look like a dead man walking. He was still rather damp from the rain head to toe, his jeans were covered in mud and up his back was a brown line from where the rear tire of the bike had flung up mud as they raced down the dirt road to Pallet Town. On top of that he simply looked exhausted – and Pikachu wasn't much better.

"I think I'll stay, Professor," he replied giving a nod in Mew's direction.

"Very well," said Professor Oak with a sigh. "At least get changed out of those wet clothes though – you can use my office to change."

Returning to the clinic a few minutes later in an identical – yet clean and dry – set of clothes, Ash retrieved a towel from his bag and went to dry off Pikachu only to find him dozing on the free bed. So Ash improvised and used the towel as a blanked for the small electric Pokémon.

"How's she doing?" asked Ash for the first time. Earlier Ash had refrained from asking; not wanting to distract the Professor from his healing duties.

"She's out of the woods," he replied. "I think she'll recover fully but it will take some time before she's up to her previous strength and healed completely – I think… We don't know very much about Mew."

Ash merely nodded at the information as he finally relaxed on a nearby chair. Seeing that Ash still exhausted Professor Oak made a suggestion.

"How about I call your mother?" he asked. "I doubt I'll be able to kick you out of the lab so why don't I ask her to bring some food in for you? It is getting pretty late."

Ash then only realised it was nearing dusk, he hadn't had lunch and that he'd been in the lab for over five hours before giving the Professor a silent nod.

o0o0o0o

Professor Oak's call to Ash's mother – Delia Ketchum – resulted in her bringing around a full dinner for the three of them to share.

Delia spent the time between finishing their meal and leaving cooing over how cute Mew was despite being unconscious and bandaged in Professor Oak's lab while Ash regaled the tale of finding Mew to the Professor.

Once peace and quiet was restored Ash and Pikachu curled up on a chair opposite Mew in a sleeping bag and took an early night's sleep.

Ash was woken long into the night by sounds of what he thought was Mew waking up. Carefully he removed Pikachu from his lap – doing his best not to wake him, though ultimately failing – before leaving Pikachu on another chair, covering him in a blanket and walking up to the bed Mew had been sleeping on while the now awake Pikachu watched.

Mew was still hooked up to an IV drip, and a machine that kept an eye on heart rate, blood oxygen and breathing. Initially the machine had made lots of noise but the Professor said he could turn them off assuring Ash the sounds would come back on if something went wrong.

Inspecting Mew, Ash found that the sedatives that should have kept her fully unconscious had worn off and she was now dreaming. However, based on the fact that Mew was shaking and whimpering again Ash assumed the dreams weren't very pleasant.

Making a decision Ash scooted the chair closer to the bed before lifting and cradling Mew carefully – taking care that he didn't disturb the various vitals sensors lest Professor Oak come running, or that Mew's long tail fell off the bed and woke her. Almost instantly Mew began to calm down and slip into a once again peaceful slumber.

Not wanting to risk waking her Ash got back into his sleeping bag and continued cradling Mew as he want to sleep. Not long after Pikachu followed with thoughts – not for the first time – of how caring a trainer Ash Ketchum was.

o0o0o0o

Mew woke the next morning still tired, sore and stiff – both from the injuries sustained, and the constricting bandages. Suddenly remembering the pain and the anguish that she imagined would be her final thoughts Mew suddenly tensed and prepared to run only to find she was actually quite warm and comfortable – not to mention feeling very safe – at the moment.

Not feeling like she needed to fight for her life right now Mew decided to take in the sights, smells and sounds of her surroundings.

For the sights there wasn't really much to say; it was just dark.

For smells the most overpowering smell shouted caution; caution her natural sense of curiosity and playfulness would overrule.

As for sounds, the loudest sound she could hear was the steady deep breathing of creature cradling her, comforting her and giving her the feeling of safety.

Concluding she would be okay here and still very tired, Mew drifted back into a peaceful sleep.

o0o0o0o

Misty Waterflower had just had a very unpleasant night.

She had spent yesterday afternoon after packing up her campsite walking through the rain towards Pallet Town, dressed only in her yellow sleeveless hoodie and three-quarter length jeans. After several hours of walking, with the sun quickly setting, cold and soaked to the bone she made the call to set up camp for the night and continue her trek in the morning.

She woke up the next morning to find not a cloud in the sky, and made herself and her Pokémon breakfast before she continued her trek.

"What the Hell?" she swore as she reached the top of the very first ridge.

Before Misty was a sign proclaiming a welcome to the visitors of Pallet Town. Only a few hundred metres beyond the sign was Pallet Town itself.

"Just my luck," she said grumpily and aloud to no one in particular. "If only I had kept walking for five _– _no, _two_ – more minutes I would have had a warm bed to sleep in!"

Walking the last few hundred metres into Pallet Town, Misty formulated her plant to catch her bike thief; she would start by walking down every street looking for it. If that didn't work she could wait in town for a few days; the thief would eventually use the bike her had just stolen and she would hopefully spot him.

This however was all for naught as at the end of the main street – the first street Misty had walked down – was her bike. Unharmed – though caked in mud – and just sitting there propped up against a sign.

_Oak Pokémon Research Lab._

The thief just abandoned the stolen bicycle out the front of the Laboratory of the world famous Professor Oak?

Shrugging at the oddness of abandoning a bicycle here of all places Misty fished her bike chain out of her backpack and locked up her bike where she found it before walking up the path to Professor Oak's Laboratory intent on asking if he'd seen the thief.

"Hello," said the Professor as he opened the door, coffee in hand.

"Professor Oak?" she asked before getting a nod. "Hi, I'm Misty. Do you happen to know anything about the bike out the front of your Lab? It's mine but someone stole it yesterday."

Professor Oak took a glance at it and seeing it was caked in mud came to an understanding.

"Oh," he said simply. "I may have an idea. Why don't you come in?"

Misty followed the Professor into the lab where he took a seat at his desk before offering a seat to Misty.

"You're one of the Cerulean City Gym leaders, aren't you?" asked the Professor after offering Misty a drink which she declined.

"Well… yes," she replied unevenly to which the Professor gave a nod – ignoring her unease.

"Your bike didn't happen to go missing up on Route 1, did it?"

"It did," she replied carefully.

"Well, I should apologise then on behalf of one of my trainers then," said the Professor awkwardly. "He found a very injured Pokémon on Route 1 yesterday and he – uh – may have _borrowed_ your bicycle to get it back here. It was a rather close call."

With the revelation that her bike was stolen saving a Pokémon's life Misty let out a breath and relaxed a little.

"He's still sleeping right now; so I can't tell for sure if he borrowed your bike. I was about to check on him actually."

Misty followed Professor Oak out of the main lab, down a corridor and into a medical clinic. Entering the clinic she saw a boy about her age sitting in a chair with his back to her near one of the beds. Upon the bed was a Pikachu watching the boy.

"Ash?" asked the Professor, testing if he was awake.

Ash didn't say anything. Instead he slowly turned his head and faced Professor Oak before raising a single finger to his lips in the universal sign of '_shut up'_.

Getting the hint that Mew was sleeping, Professor Oak approached carefully while Misty hung back in the doorway.

"She's going to have to wake up at some point Ash," said the Professor quietly. "I have to run some test and check her over. Unless I sedate her again she'll wake up. Considering _what_ she is I don't want to wake her half-way through a test either and have her trash my lab – she's probably very powerful."

Ash gave a sigh and conceded; understanding the Professor's point. But he really had no idea how to wake a baby Pokémon – especially a Pokémon that had been through such trauma.

Deciding to get it over with rather than dwell on it for half-an-hour Ash choose the 'pet Mew until she wakes up' approach figuring doing so would give of an air of calmness and safety.

"Meeewww," called out Mew as she rolled in Ash's arms after Ash – feeling a little bit daring when petting didn't work – gave Mew a scratch behind her ears.

Mew continued withering as Ash gave her a few good scratches before stopping and opening her eyes to gaze up at Ash.

"Woken up now, Mew?" he asked good-naturedly to which Mew made a noise that Ash assume was agreement.

Seeing that Mew was awake, Professor Oak and Misty felt it was safe to approach and get a good look at Pokémon Ash was holding. Seeing movement out of the corners of her eyes, Mew turned to look at the newcomers before panicking and trying to bury herself in Ash's jacket.

Seeing as this legendary Pokémon wasn't going to be easy to deal with Professor Oak gave a very audible sigh.

"Probably best we give Ash a few moments to calm her down," said the Professor to Misty as he led her out of the clinic. "I'm – again – very sorry about the hassle."

"It's no problem," she replied. Most of Misty's annoyance and anger at her bike's theft left her when she had found out it was to save an injured Pokémon. The very last of it left when she saw the adorable little thing in the boy's arms.

o0o0o0o

Back in the clinic, Ash was doing his best to calm Mew down with back rubs and soothing sounds. Pikachu eventually joined in trying to speak to Mew and calm her down as well. To Ash's surprise Mew didn't react poorly to Pikachu's presence; he had assumed that any strangers might set her off but it didn't seem to include Pikachu.

After several minutes of work with help from Pikachu, Ash managed to calm Mew down enough to the point where she was inquisitively gazing about at her surroundings again while Pikachu tried to talk to her.

"Think it would be good for her to get out of this room, buddy?" asked Ash. "Maybe show her around the Professor's Lab before she meets new people?"

"Pi-ka," replied Pikachu in agreement.

"Guess that means I need to disconnect everything," thought Ash aloud.

The IV was relatively easy to figure out how to disconnect and was rather pointless at this point as it had run out during the night but the various electrical sensors gave Ash some concern. Ash eventually decided to simply turn the machine off at the switch so when he disconnected Mew from the machine it wouldn't start making a racket and send Mew back into a panic because it had thought Mew had flat-lined.

Ash chose to leave the splints and bandages in place; they didn't stop him from carrying Mew around and they were probably still needed.

With that a somewhat cheerful Mew left the clinic in Ash's arms with Pikachu at his heels.

o0o0o0o

"… And this is the Pokéball Room," said Ash as he showed Mew into the room.

For the tour, Ash had avoided Professor Oak's office where the Professor and the redhead he had seen earlier were. Instead they toured the labs, the library and ended at the aforementioned Pokéball Room.

"All of the Pokémon at the lab sleep here at night."

As with the other rooms, Mew began to curiously fly around the room and examine things. At first, Mew flying gave Ash and Pikachu a bit of a shock but they quickly got over it; assuming it was just some quirk of powerful psychic-types.

However, she was still a bit shaky flying around and previously she had gotten exhausted very quickly so Ash followed her closely as she – in each of the other rooms that is – had returned to Ash's arms were he would go back to carrying her again. Ash wasn't sure if this was because she was still tired and injured from her ordeal or because of Mew's young age so he made a point of asking the Professor about it.

Eventually – after checking out every nook and cranny in the Pokéball room – Mew picked a Pokéball off the shelf.

"Uh – Mew, it's probably best not to touch that," said Ash.

Mew had already played around with several things in each of the rooms they had visited like books and a coffee cup just to name a few – things professor Oak won't mind Mew playing with _too _much –but the Pokéballs didn't belong to Professor Oak and their trainers might not appreciate it.

However, with a flash of red light it was too late and a small blue bipedal Pokémon with a hard looking bony head appeared causing Mew to drop the empty Pokéball in shock and retreat back to Ash where she attempted – again – to bury herself in Ash's jacket.

Holding Mew comfortingly, Ash gave a sigh and again tried to console the tiny legendary as the freed Pokémon – which Ash vaguely remembered was native to Sinnoh and Hoenn – looked around in bewilderment.

"Sorry about that," apologised Ash to the Pokémon whose name he couldn't recall as he picked up the dropped Pokéball. "Return."

The Pokémon back in its Pokéball, Ash returned it too its nook on the self.

"She doesn't have any trouble with me and doesn't seem to have any trouble with you Pikachu, so what gives?" he asked in bewilderment.

"Pika, pikachu," replied Pikachu sadly which Ash interpreted as 'I don't know.'

"Well, let's get whatever Professor Oak wants done over with," said Ash. "I don't think we have any chance of getting Mew used to people in only an hour. Who knows, maybe if we're there she'll lighten up to people."

With an agreement from Pikachu the trio left the Pokéball room in search of the Professor.

o0o0o0o

Professor Oak was currently having a lively discussion with Misty on the topic of water Pokémon. Misty had quite clearly stated too him that her dream was to become one of the best water-type Masters in the world and as such she was quite happy to hear anything the Professor knew on the topic of water-types.

They were however interrupted – after losing track of time that is – by Ash, Pikachu and Mew entering the room.

"So, did you managed to calm her down?" asked the Professor as he glanced at Mew in Ash's arms.

"Well… yes," replied Ash carefully before explaining. "But she got scared again meeting another Pokémon."

"Pikachu?" asked the Prfoessor.

"No, she get on surprisingly well with Pikachu," replied Ash. "It was some Pokémon in the Pokéball room. She accidentally released one and freaked out before I put it back."

"Oh," said Professor Oak in thought.

"But that's what I wanted to ask you; why do you think she got along with Pikachu with no prompting?" asked Ash as he continued speaking.

"Hmm," hummed the Professor as he thought. "It could be smell. You and Pikachu are in close proximity with each other a lot. She may feel safe around you and because you smell a bit like Pikachu she feels safe around him too."

Ash nodded in understanding before the Professor continued talking.

"Now," he said. "You didn't happen to _borrow _a bicycle to get her with Mew, did you?"

Ash paled at the thought as he made the connection between the bike and the redhead but to Ash's surprise the Professor paled too, all-the-while Misty sat in a chair doing her best to give Ash a stern gaze."

"I shouldn't have said that," said Professor Oak as he pinched the bridge of his nose.

"Huh?" asked Misty in confusion as she looked between Professor Oak and Ash before setting her gaze on Mew and exclaiming. "Wait, Mew?"

The Professor gave a sigh at Misty's recognition of the name.

"I was trying to keep that quiet," he muttered loud enough for everyone to head.

"You stole my bike trying to save a Mew?" asked Misty with surprise and shock.

"Uh – yea, sorry about that," apologised Ash as he scratched his head with his free arm.

"Don't worry about it," she replied. "A lot of trainers – myself included – would probably do the same in that situation."

Misty then stood up and walked over to Ash.

"Besides, you're such a cutie," she said as she gave Mew – who was still trying to hide and unaware of Misty walking up to Ash – a scratch.

Mew made a few approving noises at the scratching before rolling in Ash's arms to face the scratcher at which she promptly rolled back and tried to hide again.

Misty gave a rejected sigh at that.

"How did she – uh – get in such a state?" asked Misty after getting over her rejection.

"Well, apparently she's really young, was sick and there's this really nasty flock of Spearow…"

"Ah – say no more," cut off Misty in understanding. "I know about them; I had to chase them off regularly else they would go through my camp looking for food. Very short tempered they are and they would do their best to wreck everything in the process."

"Yes, we have had dealing with that particular flock in the past," butted in Professor Oak before adding sternly. "Now, I assume you will be keeping quiet in this matter?"

"Not a word," she replied seriously.

Misty knew the Professor had a lot of influence in the League; saying anything about Mew to anyone outside this room was a one way ticket to a very difficult and short career as a trainer or gym leader.

"Good," he replied. "Now, Ash, I need to take a look at Mew. Can you try to keep her calm while I do the necessary tests?"

"I can try, Professor."

"Have you tried bribing her with food?" suggested Misty. "Generally you don't feed someone you're trying to hurt."

"Hmm – yes, that might work," mused Professor Oak. "She also hasn't had any food so far besides the nutritional drip."

Ash led Misty to the lab as Professor Oak went to retrieve some Pokémon food for young psychic Pokémon. He returned a short while later with a small bowl of food and some water for Mew.

"My lab assistant just arrived," said the Professor as he closed the door. "While I certainly trust the man, the less people who know about Mew the better, you never know; he might accidentally have a slip of the tongue one night at a bar."

"Is it really that important?" asked Ash. "I know Mew is rare but isn't that a bit far?"

Misty gave Ash a dubious smile at that before the Professor started talking.

"Mew is an incredibly rare Pokémon, Ash; even for a legendary. In fact, I'd go as far as to say that of the legendaries we know that actually exist – that we have the odd elusive photo of or the like – Mew is _the_ rarest," stated Professor Oak urgently. "Never have we had a Mew to study or a trainer caught one – and I'll say, Mew is pretty much your Pokémon at this point, in only a few hours she already goes to you for comfort like a parental figure and if we separated you she would most likely run. This is all made worse by who _you_ are; you're young and inexperienced. Of the few trainers who have caught legendaries they're effectively always very experienced and very powerful – not someone a criminal would want to run afoul of. An inexperienced and young trainer coupled with a rare and valuable Pokémon boils down to you being a huge target for thieves if word got out you were in possession of a Mew."

Professor Oak took a few deep breaths at the end of his spiel, having said it with nearly one breath.

"I didn't mean to get so worked up about it my boy, but I do hope you understand the gravity of the situation."

"Understood, Professor," replied Ash with a gulp.

Professor Oak gave him a reassuring smile.

"Now, let's see if we can bribe Mew into the tests I need to run."

o0o0o0o

It took a long half an hour of food based coercion to get Mew to even look at either Misty or Professor Oak. Another difficult half hour and she was happily accepting food from both of them.

Professor Oak then felt comfortable removing the IV catheter from Mew's arm which resulted in a distraught Mew crying on Ash's shoulder as Ash and Pikachu tried to console the weeping Pokémon.

Another hour – or half an hour if you took away the time it took to calm Mew down again – and Mew was happy to be held by Misty; though Mew refused to be held by the Professor and sent looks of betrayal at him every time he tried to interact with her.

"So young Mew _can_ fly," said the Professor when Mew tried to get away from him by flying into Ash's arms.

"I take it Mew normally fly?" asked Misty.

"Nearly all of the pictures of Mew we have depict them flying," replied Professor Oak in confirmation.

"Yea, she flies," said Ash. "But she seems to tire rather quickly. Do you think that's normal, Professor?"

"Hmm," he thought. "It could be she's still very tired and possibly because she's malnourished. It could also be because of her age. I guess as she gets back up to a healthy weight and recovers we'll see."

"So how long have you been a Pokémon trainer?" asked Misty once Professor Oak finished with Mew and got on with the day's activities leaving the two – plus Mew and Pikachu – alone.

"Well, I've had my Trainers Licence since I was ten. Pikachu was my starter and best buddie," he replied as Mew went back to sleep and Pikachu gave a confirming 'Pika!' before going back to his late breakfast. "And we've spent the last three years going around the Pallet Town area. The day before yesterday though was supposed to be the day I left on my Journey."

"So you're entering the League?" asked Misty in understanding.

"Yea, my goal is to become a Pokémon Master!" said Ash. "What about you?"

"My goal is to become a water Pokémon Master," she replied.

"So you like water Pokémon then?"

"Well, yea," she replied nervous chuckle as if it was obvious. "Have you caught any water Pokémon yet?"

"A Magikarp," replied Ash. "I've got a Pidgeotto too."

"A Magikarp…" repeated Misty. "Of all the water Pokémon you could have captured you chose Magikarp?"

"What?" replied Ash in offence. "Magikarp are good investment Pokémon."

"Investment Pokémon?" she asked in confusion. Misty had never heard someone describe a Pokémon as an investment before.

"Magikarp evolves into Gyarados," said Ash. "With a bit of work I'll have a powerful Gyarados."

Misty paled slightly at the mention of Gyarados.

"The aspiring water Pokémon Master doesn't like Gyarados?" asked Ash with a cheeky smirk.

"Well… they're rather scary," she replied with embarrassment.

Ash laughed at that earning a glare from Misty.

"They're no scarier than some other powerful Pokémon, Misty," said Ash as he contained his laughter at the water Pokémon trainer.

"Well, they have huge mouths and like shooting at people with Hyper Beam!" shouted Misty as she got angry at Ash. "Have you ever been chased by an angry Gyarados?"

o0o0o0o

Misty quickly got over the indignity of being laughed at for being a water Pokémon trainer scared of Gyarados and the pair set out to find something to eat.

"My mum runs a restaurant in town and usually lets me eat there for lunch but I'm not sure that's possible with Mew around," said Ash. "If you want we can probably go to my home and scrounge up something; I could easily hide Mew for the short walk home."

"Have you asked the Professor?" asked Misty. "Mew was just recently injured; it might not be a good idea to take her out of the lab."

"Can you watch her for me then?" asked Ash with a sigh. "Professor Oak did say not to let anyone else see her."

With Misty cradling the sleeping young Mew, Ash and Pikachu were free to track down the Professor.

"Is it ok for me to take Mew home with me?" asked Ash after finding the Professor typing on his computer and checking no one else was in sight. "We were hoping to go get some food."

Professor Oak didn't say anything for a few seconds before speaking.

"Just make sure she doesn't strain herself," said Professor Oak. "Try and keep the flying to a minimum until she's healed. Make sure she doesn't wander off either – she is young after all."

"Can do, Professor," replied Ash.

"I've been meaning to ask," said Professor Oak as Ash made to leave. "I was hoping I could run a few more tests on Mew. I've said it countless time but we _have_ never gotten a good look at a Mew before and I was hoping to write a paper on her."

"What would it involve?" asked Ash with curiosity. "And what about keeping Mew a secret?"

"I of course won't include anything that could identify you in the paper, Ash," said the Professor obviously. "As for the tests I would want a full x-ray for bone structure, an MRI for brain function, I suspect Mew's bulbous tail has some function – possibly psychic in origin – so I guess anther MRI for that, I already have blood samples, height, weight and – when Mew has recovered fully – I'd like to see how powerful her attacks are. It should only take a few hours."

"Hmm, I guess we could."

"Thank you," thanked the Professor as Ash made to leave again as his stomach rumbled. "Oh – and Ash, do actually capture Mew in a Pokéball soon."

As Ash walked back to the clinic to tell Misty they could go to his house to get some food he thought about how easily another trainer could take Mew right now.

o0o0o0o

"So do you want to be my Pokémon, Mew?" Ash asked after trying to explain the advantages to Mew and hoping she understood.

Before Mew could answer, Pikachu made some approving noises in agreement with Ash and was in clear agreement that it was a good idea.

Giving her answer Mew flew to Ash and gave him a hug

"Mew!" she said in agreement.

Ash took out a Pokéball and activated it, causing Mew to turn into a stream of red and disappear into the ball. Ash then subsequently released Mew who appeared – floating above the Ketchum Family table – and did a few tight loops and flew around in happiness.

"She seems to be taking it well," said Misty with some mirth as she watched Mew race around.

"Yea," said Ash with a chuckle.

It didn't take long for Mew to tire out and fall asleep again – this time in Misty's care – at which point Ash decided to keep trying to teach Pikachu Iron Tail out the back of the house while Misty watched.

"You don't happen to have any Pokémon that know Iron Tail, do you?" asked Ash several exhausting hours later.

"No, I don't, sorry," Misty replied.

Ash gave a sigh at that before fall down backwards on the grass where Pikachu joined him.

"Pi-kachu," replied Pikachu sadly.

"Don't worry, buddy," said Ash. "You gave it your best shot."

"Have you taught Pikachu any other moves?" asked Misty.

"Yea, I taught him Double Team," replied Ash. "It only took a few hours a day for a month to get it down pat."

"Well Double Team is a normal-type move," suggested Misty in thought. "Normal-type moves are usually very intuitive so they are easy to learn while Iron Tail is a steel-type and it's rather… different… you could say?"

Misty clearly wasn't happy with her explanation or wording.

"I think I get what you mean," said Ash after some processing. "That's one of the reasons I asked to see if you had any Pokémon who knew it; we were hoping to see a demonstration and get an explanation from a steel-type Pokémon."

"Not a bad idea… If I had a Pokémon who knew Iron Tail," said Misty. "None of my Pokémon know any steel-type moves actually."

"Damn," muttered Ash.

o0o0o0o

"Misty, this is my mum Delia," introduced Ash as his mother returned from her restaurant. "Mum, this is Misty; I borrowed her bike to get Mew to Professor Oak's lab yesterday."

Misty rolled her eyes at Ash's explanation.

"What he meant to say is he _stole_ my bike," said Misty to Delia's concern. "I forgave him though when I found out why."

Misty gestured to the sleeping Mew on the sofa causing Delia to relax.

"Oh, and this is Mimey," said Ash pointing out the Mr Mime who – after returning from work with Delia – had begun to dust around the house.

"Mime!" said Mimey with a wave before returning to the dusting.

"Will you be staying for dinner, dear?" asked Delia.

"If it's not a problem," said Misty with a smile. "It would make a nice change to the canned food I've been eating for a few weeks."

"So you've been travelling?" she asked curiously.

"Uh – sort've, I'm been camping for a while," responded Misty.

"We have a spare bedroom you can use if you want," suggested Delia. "Much nicer than a tent."

"I wouldn't want to impose," said Misty meekly. "I'm ok camping."

That was a lie but it didn't seem right to impose on someone she'd known for five minutes.

"It's really no problem, dear."

"Ok… thanks," conceded Misty. Delia seemed the type who wouldn't back down on offering accommodation or a meal.

"So Ash, how is Mew doing?" asked Delia now that was settled.

"Pretty well I think," replied Ash. "But she tires really easy and goes off to sleep; I guess that is normal for baby or young Pokémon though – especially when they're recovering from serious injury."

"That can be expected," said Delia with a concerned nod before sitting down on the sofa next to the sleeping Mew to give him a scratch.

"Try not to wake here, mum," said Ash. "She doesn't react well to other people or Pokémon right now."

"Oh – you poor thing," said Delia quietly in response.

"Yea," agreed Misty sadly.

"The only people she wanted to be near at first were Pikachu and me," said Ash. "It took a while for her to warm up to Misty and she really doesn't trust Professor Oak anymore."

"Oh – what happened?" asked Delia.

"Well she eventually trusted the Professor then he went and removed the catheter from Mew's arm and she panicked."

"Yea, every time she sees Professor Oak now she gives him these looks of betrayal," added Misty with mirth.

"Oh dear," said Delia with a small giggle. "I bet Samuel – Professor Oak that is – is put out by that."

"I bet he is," replied Ash with a grin.

"Now, what happened with keeping this quiet?" asked Delia before adding. "Not that I don't think you're a trustworthy person, Misty, but Samuel gave me the impression last night this would be kept under wraps."

"Ah – yes, it seems the Professor has a loose tongue and said too much when I was in the room."

"Hmm," hummed Delia as she pursed her lips. "He does need to be more careful."

o0o0o0o

It wasn't long before dinner that the doorbell chimed.

Deciding that it wasn't a good idea for a half-asleep Mew to be lying on the couch where a visitor could find her, Ash and Misty Picked her up and carried her up to Ash's room while Pikachu followed Delia to see who was at the door.

"Well…" said Misty looked around the room and lost for words at the multitude of Pokémon paraphernalia adoring the walls and every shelf.

Realising what she was gaping at Ash blushed in embarrassment.

"I've been meaning to get rid of most of this since I got my trainers licence," muttered Ash causing Misty to giggle. "You can talk Miss 'water Pokémon Master who doesn't like Gyarados'."

Misty narrowed her eyes at Ash's comment before there was a knock at the door.

"It's only Professor Oak," said the voice of Ash's mum.

"Ah – Ash, I was expecting you to return to the lab at some point," said the Professor as they entered the lounge room.

"Sorry about that," replied Ash as he gave his head a scratch.

"Yes, well, I have some medicine here that Mew needs to receive over the coming days and weeks," he said as he fished out several pill bottles from his lab coat. "Let's see; vitamin and mineral supplement for the malnutrition – twice daily, antibiotics for any infections – twice daily, and a general anti-poison for any lingering poison – once daily. Keep giving them too her until the bottles are empty."

"That shouldn't be a problem," said Ash as he tried to figure out the best way to get mew to eat a few pills.

"Yes, I would do it myself but… you know," said the professor exasperatedly.

Delia broke into giggles at that.

"You really are put out by that, aren't you?" she asked as she stifled her giggles.

"You know?"

"I know Mew doesn't like you anymore," she said.

The Professor gave a sigh at that.

"Would you like to stay for dinner?" she asked. "Misty is staying; the more the merrier."

o0o0o0o

"Come on Mew, would you eat these… for me? They'll help you get healthy and strong," said Ash pleading in what would be a typical morning for the next few days.

The morning following Mew's first night at the Ketchum residence included time where Mew got used to Delia; but she was still very shy, and easily frightened around other people and Pokémon. Though on the plus side it seemed Mew warmed up far quicker than she initially did.

However, to Ash's surprise Mew quickly warmed up to Mimey. Mew was flying around the Mr Mime while he did his usual pantomime to her in communication. Ash figured it was some sort of psychic-type thing going on and pushed it out of his mind.

The morning following Misty's first night was also interesting. Feeling the need to repay Delia Ketchum for her hospitality, Misty tried to wash the dishes from breakfast only to be chased out by Mimey.

"Don't try to do anything Mimey considers 'his' job," said Ash helpingly as he poured a bowl of food for Pikachu while Pikachu added tomato sauce to it. "He's very possessive about them and the only person he'll listen to is mum."

"Pika-chu," nodded Pikachu in agreement.

It was several days later when Professor Oak was around for dinner _again_ – to Misty's slight bewilderment; '_did he live here?_' she thought – that Ash chose to ask some questions about Mew.

"How long do you think she still needs to recover, Professor?" he asked as he thought about how far ahead Gary was.

"Two, maybe three days I think," he replied. "Have you tried out any of Mew's moves?"

"No, we haven't," replied Ash. "You said she needs to take it easy."

Mew still slept a lot but she had stopped taking naps during the day like clockwork like she had at first. She could also fly around for a lot longer; though Ash wasn't sure if the reason she stopped flying around was because she was tired or if it was because she like being carried around by Ash.

On top of that, Mew was quickly seeing Pikachu as the idolised older brother; going so far as to mimic Pikachu by sitting on Ash's shoulder – when she wasn't of course cuddling into Ash's arms that is.

"While the caution is admirable I figured you'd have eventually ignored it," said Professor Oak before stopping and pondering for a moment. "I guess I'm still seeing the very reckless Ash who received a Pikachu from me when he was ten."

Delia was clearly reminiscing at that, so – fearing what would happen next if it continued; like breaking out the baby photos for example – Ash pressed on with the discussion.

"I think I'll get back on my journey in three days then," he said.

"Three days," repeated the Professor while Delia looked ever so slightly downtrodden. "Your first – well, technically second – gym badge is going to be Cerulean City; isn't it?"

"Uh – yea," replied Ash, not really following the Professor's line of thought.

"Well in four days I'm heading off to that archaeology conference I was telling you about, Ash," he said. "I could give you a lift if you want – Misty too."

"Gee – uh – thanks," replied Ash.

"Thank you," replied Misty though she wasn't sure she actually wanted to go back to Cerulean City.

"What are you going to do about Mew though?" asked Delia. "She isn't very discreet and is very noticeable."

"Hmm," thought Ash. "She's taken after Pikachu in that she doesn't like her Pokéball very much."

Ash tried to give Pikachu a glare while he sat their shameless and unabashedly.

"Have you checked her moves yet?" asked the Professor knowingly. "I believe a solution is in there."

"No, I haven't. I only used my Pokédex to identify her when I found her," he said as he fished his Pokédex out of his pocket while Misty rolled her eyes affectionately.

"_Mew; the legendary psychic Pokémon," _stated the electronic voice of Dexter after pointing it at the sleeping Mew on one of dining room chairs. _"This Mew is female and knows the moves Pound, Reflect Type and Transform."_

"You knew?" asked Misty to the Professor in understanding.

"No photos of it, but we do have eyewitnesses saying that Mew can transform just like Ditto," he said with a shrug.

"So Mew should just transform into some less rare Pokémon?" said Ash catching on.

"I would say so, yes," replied the Professor.

At that point Delia's eyes almost lit up.

"Oh – that means she needs a name!" exclaimed Delia in delight. "You can't keep calling her Mew after all."

"Pinky," suggested Ash... lamely.

"No, I don't think so Ash, that's... just a terrible name," said Misty immediately. "It explains why Pikachu is called Pikachu if that's your name suggestion."

"I agree; that's not a very good name," agreed Delia. "If you want pink themes though we could call her Rose."

Misty gave a slight grimace at that.

"Why not Ruby?" suggested Misty. "Some rubies are pink and red is pretty close to pink."

"Hmm… Okay," conceded Delia.

Ash and Pikachu just shook their heads at this exchange.

"I guess Mew and I have no input in this?"

o0o0o0o

Ash, Misty, Pikachu and the newly titled Ruby made their way to Professor Oak's lab the next morning.

Before they left – and when Ruby was once again awake – Ash asked Ruby to transform into Pikachu. It took a little while – possibly because Ruby had never done it before – but she quickly got it down Pat.

So on their way to Professor Oak's Lab it appeared there were two Pikachu's riding on Ash Ketchum's shoulders.

"You know, I think that invariably at some point some other trainer will accuse you of hogging all the Pikachu's," said Misty as they walked past her still chained up bike and up the path to the lab.

Ash glanced between Pikachu and Ruby before speaking.

"You know what? You're probably right," he said. "There are some rather unintelligent people in the world with weird views."

Misty held her tongue at the retort she was just about to speak regarding 'some unintelligent people' when they found the Professor.

"So transform worked then? You found a solution?" he asked.

"Yep," replied Ash. "Can you guess which Pikachu is Ruby?"

"Easy," replied the Professor. "Ruby is the Pikachu on your right shoulder."

"Uh – how did you know?" asked Misty as he gaze switched between the two Pikachu.

"Well, ignoring the gaze of betrayal Ruby is rather fond of directing at me it's because female Pikachu have a notch in the end of their tail," said the Professor as he pointed it out which resulted in Ruby transforming back into her usual form and flying out of arms reach of the Professor.

"Ah – yes," stated Misty.

"So, those tests?" prompted Ash.

Height and weight were easy measurements to get. They required no special training to perform meaning the Professor didn't need to be involved in them and thus Ruby was cooperative. The x-ray and MRI were a bit more complicated; Ash eventually had to sit there and almost hold Ruby's hand while they were performed.

"I think I might be onto something!" exclaimed Professor Oak once the MRI of Ruby's tail was complete.

"What is it?" asked Ash.

"I think Ruby's bulbous tail might be some sort of psychic organ, making Ruby's psychic powers more powerful; almost like how the brain is behind psychic powers in most psychic Pokémon but Ruby seems to have another organ in conjunction to the brain that does so!" said the Professor in an almost giddy manner. "This will require more research!"

They then spent the next hour getting Ruby to perform various moves while the professor waved a few different electronic measurement devices around her and recorded Transform with a camera for future study.

o0o0o0o

"Some bugger has nicked my bike!" shouted Misty as Ash packed his bag next to Misty's bag and the Professor's bag in the boot of the Professor's four-by-four.

Having heard the noise, Ash rushed out to find Misty standing by the sign to Oak Laboratories holding a length of chain and her bike nowhere in sight.

"Uh – what happened, Misty?"

"Someone stole my bike, again!" she said as she thrusted the length of chain under Ash's nose.

Ash took a look at the chain and saw it looked like someone had cut it with a pair of bolt-cutters.

"Oh," said Ash simply to Misty's quiet rage.

Misty eventually calmed down though she muttered things about thieves under her breath as she, Ash, Professor Oak, Pikachu and Ruby – who sat as far away as she could from the Professor – rode down the bumpy dirt road to Viridian City and later Cerulean City.

"You know," said the professor as they had a snack break not far outside of Cerulean City. "You don't have to have your gym battle at a gym; you just have to fight the gym leader."

"Huh?" asked Ash in confusion as Misty tensed.

"Uh – you don't know?" asked Professor Oak carefully.

"Know what?"

"That Misty here is one of the Cerulean City Gym leaders?" asked Professor Oak as Misty sighed.

"What?" shouted Ash as he jumped up.

* * *

**Thank you for reading the first chapter. This is the longest single chapter I've ever written at just over 11k words.**

**Yes, there will be Cynthia next chapter and yes I don't like Spearow  
**

**I would like some feedback on Delia. In the anime she seems rather chirpy so I tried to portray that here.**

**Please leave reviews and give feedback. Don't forget to favourite and follow either.  
**

**AN-1:**

**I forgot to say. I'm going to _try_ and get a chapter out of one of my main stories every two weeks. Hopefully when I've gotten into a rhythm it will go down to once per week.**

**Unfortunately _Unspeakable Employment_ is going on hold. I'm stuck writing the lessons between now and Hogwarts and I just can't bring myself to keep writing. Maybe later I'll get back to it; it will be done when it's done.**

**AN-2:**

**Went through and fixed up quite a few spelling errors.**

**For those of you wondering I've been putting some thought into Misty's outfit; her outfit in the orginal series was horrible. I sort've imagined she would wear maybe quarter length jeans and mayble a sleevless yellow hoodie; ****I figured a yellow sleeveless hoodie would suit her and it still 'feels' like something Misty would wear.  
**

**AN-3:**

**What should Cynthia's last name be? I know Shinora is popular and White was used in 'The Journey of a Master'. What do you guys suggest?**


	2. 02 - A Girl and Her Gible

**Sorry about the wait guys. This chapter took much longer than I thought it would and I got stuck multiple times on several different parts.**

**I'm also not exactly happy with some parts but I preferred to just get it out there and over with.**

**Funnily enough I found the drive to finish this when I should have been studying for uni exams. Hopefully when they're done I'll start pushing out chapters very quickly.**

**Also, as an Australian I'll be using 'tomato sauce' instead of 'ketchup'.**

* * *

**The Goal of Masters**

**Chapter Two**

**A Girl and Her Gible**

"Someone tried to rob the Viridian Pokémon Centre?" exclaimed one of the young trainers excitedly as Ash and Misty walked into the _Cerulean_ Pokémon Centre.

"Yea, about a week ago," replied one of his friends. "Apparently they managed to get off with most of the Pokéballs there before running into Officer Jenny – quite literally – at the end of the street and wetting themselves in fear at her Arcanine, leaving the Pokéballs behind."

"Arceus, those Team Rocket guys sound pathetic," laughed a girl.

"I heard someone say that their Meowth talked," chimed in another.

"Yea right, that's a laugh."

Ash and Misty took a glance at the group discussing the failings of Team Rocket as both their eyebrows connected.

"That would have been when I was supposed to arrive in Viridian City," said Ash as they waited in line to gain the services of Nurse Joy, Pikachu on his shoulder and Ruby currently transformed into a Pichu because apparently in this form she has more success burying herself into his jacket to hide from all of the people.

"Hmm, it's odd," said Misty. "Team Rocket is supposed to be really ruthless; that screw-up must be really bad for their image – everyone is laughing at them."

"Hello, Misty," said Nurse Joy as they reached the front of the queue. "I haven't seen you around for a while."

"Hi, Nurse Joy," greeted Misty distractedly. "I only just back to Cerulean City half an hour ago; I've been away for a while."

Ash was still slightly put out by Misty keeping her status as Gym Leader a secret; she still hadn't explained why either but did offer to let him use the spare room at the gym instead of staying at the Pokémon Centre.

"So how may I help you then?" asked the nurse.

"My Pokémon need a check-up; we've been away from civilisation for a while and I think it's about time they got one. Ash?"

"Oh yea," he replied, realising Misty was speaking to him as he watched the comings and goings of the Pokémon centre. "Professor Oak said I should get you to check over Ruby – one of my Pokémon, Nurse Joy. He said you had better diagnostics equipment in case there is anything he missed when he treated her."

"It's probably best Ash goes in with you," added Misty because Ash seemed to have forgotten or maybe he didn't understand that standard procedure was to simply give Nurse Joy your Pokéballs and wait. "She doesn't handle other people very well and he needs to explain a few things."

Nurse Joy nodded, led them to one of the private rooms and waited for an explanation.

"You can transform back now, Ruby," said Ash quietly to the tiny Pichu in his arms.

Ruby slowly transformed back from the tiny yellow and black mouse-like Pokémon and into the pink and more feline Mew she was. She then stoped burying her head in Ash's jacket and looked around to find the area considerably more person and Pokémon free.

"Mew?" she asked.

"We're in the Pokémon Centre, Ruby," said Ash. "Nurse Joy just needs to look you over – don't worry she'll be nicer than the Professor."

Ruby relaxed slightly at Ash's assurances though was still visibly tense about encountering a new person.

"Is she what I think she is?" asked Nurse Joy visibly shocked.

"Yea, she's a Mew," said Ash. "I found her very injured and being attacked by a group of Spearow. Because of that she doesn't seem to react well to other people or Pokémon very well."

"Traumatic events unfortunately do that," replied Nurse Joy sadly. "I take it she doesn't like her Pokéball either, does she? That would make it easier to treat her but if she doesn't like being inside one…"

"Yea, she doesn't," replied Ash. "Bad habit she picked up from Pikachu."

Pikachu wasn't sorry about that; he hated being inside a Pokéball, so he wasn't going to feel bad if another Pokémon hated being inside them too.

"Can you place her over here?" asked Nurse Joy as she directed to some sort of medical scanner.

The scans weren't difficult and before long Ruby was declared perfectly healthy except for some malnutrition.

"Yea, the Professor gave me some medicine for her for that," said Ash when asked.

"How long is there left on the prescription?"

Ash pulled the pill bottle out of his pocket and took a peek inside.

"Maybe three days?" he said after counting.

"She'll need to stay on those for longer," replied Nurse Joy. "I'll give you another week's worth then I want you to come into a Pokémon Centre again and we'll see if it needs to be continued. She will also need to eat plenty of food."

o0o0o0o

"You're a fucking embarrassment to the organisation," shouted the irate voice of Giovanni through the mobile phone. "I've had countless reports through my desk this week of people _laughing_ when other Rockets have tried to rob them. The story of the 'Pissing Rockets' has spread like fucking wildfire."

The three – Jessie, James and a talking Meowth – gulped audibly at this; the boss as seen people 'sleeping with the Magikarp' – so to speak – for less.

"Sorry, Bo –" the Meowth tried to apologise before being cut off by Giovanni.

"Shut your fucking mouth!" he shouted in rage before continuing in a deadly voice. "From now on the only time you'll even _think_ about robbing another trainer is when you find a ten year old walking a deserted road _alone_; I would hope even you wouldn't fuck that up and embarrass the organisation again. From now on you three are assigned to reconnaissance duty; when you find a trainer carrying something worth stealing you report back immediately and I'll send someone _actually competent_ to retrieve it. You will do nothing else!"

"Y-yes, Sir!" the three chimed before their boss, Giovanni – leader of Kanto's most ruthless organised crime syndicate – hung up.

Their attention no longer solely focussed on the phone in Meowth's paws, the three looked at each other and saw how pale they were – or in Meowth's case how pale he would be if he wasn't covered in fur – from fright; the boss was scary.

"What are we going to do?" stuttered out Jessie.

"What da' Boss said," replied Meowth immediately. "I'm pretty good as this surveillin' and spyin' stuff anyway."

"We could run…" trailed of James as he got cold feet.

"There's nowhere we can go the Boss wouldn't find us," said Jessie.

"So I guess we are doing what the Boss ordered?"

"Of course," said Meowth as if it was obvious.

o0o0o0o

Despite having offered Ash a place to stay and Ash's eagerness to get on with a gym battle, Misty was clearly hesitant to go to the Cerulean City Gym straight away. Instead, she tried to show Ash the sights of Cerulean City.

"Oh – Hello, Professor," they said, running into Professor Oak in a café.

The Professor, after dropping the pair off at the Pokémon Centre had driven off to find the hotel he would be staying in for the next few days for the conference.

"Hello, you two," replied the Professor. "How did the check-up go?"

"Fine, Ruby just needed more of those nutrition pills," replied Ash.

"That's good to hear," the Professor Commented. "I was just reading the conference schedule; there is something that might interest you."

Ash took the offered sheet of paper and read.

_The Significance of Mew in Ancient Kanto Culture_

"Someone's presenting a paper on Mew at the conference?" asked Misty as she read the schedule over Ash's shoulder.

"Well, it not really on Mew," he replied, referring to how he thought a paper actually on Mew would be about its biology. "More on how cultures worshiped and perceived Mew."

"That might be interesting," said Ash. "Are we able to see any of this?"

"I can probably sneak you in to see just that," replied the Professor as he thought. "Conferences are usually aimed at academics, not – well – young trainers. You would have to not disturb anyone and be on your best behaviour."

"I can do that, Professor," said Ash enthusiastically.

"I'd like to see it too, Professor," said Misty as she gave Ruby – who was back in the form of Pichu – a scratch.

"Pikachu?" asked Ash.

"Pika!" replied Pikachu as a yes.

"Very well; its tomorrow morning," said the Professor. "Now, when are you going to have your gym battle? I wouldn't mind watching."

Ash turned to Misty for an answer.

"What is up with that, Misty?" asked Ash when she didn't say anything.

"Uh," was all Misty said as she alternated between looking at the piercing gaze of the professor and the curious expression of Ash's face.

"Something wrong?" asked the Professor carefully.

Misty gave a sigh and dropped into a free chair.

"My sisters," she replied sadly. "My three older sisters are also gym leaders at our gym. They're terrible at battling and no interest or drive to actually run the gym."

"Oh," replied the Professor as he began to get a picture of why Misty had been previously hesitant to discuss it.

"They spent all their time doing makeup, complaining about how hard it is to a run a gym despite the fact that I practically run it – thought they would never admit _that – _and mocking my dream to be a water-type Master. Eventually I got fed up and left – and I may have said I wasn't coming back until I _was _a water Pokémon Master…"

"Saving face then?"

"Hmm, I guess," she replied. "I wouldn't be surprised if they're handing out the badges like candy; they always said they preferred to do shows."

"They could lose their gym status if they do that," said the Professor in thought.

"I was joking," replied Misty before realising it might just be the case. "I hope…"

"Well you should remind your sisters that they could lose their status as a gym and the subsequent funding if they don't smarten up their act."

"I'll try, Professor. But they might just use it as an excuse to be done with it."

"It would be a great loss, Misty," said the Professor with concern. "Your mother ran that gym for many years."

"She did," was all Misty got out.

A silence passed between the three for a few minutes before Ash broke it.

"Why don't we get meeting your sisters oven and done with?" suggested Ash cautiously.

o0o0o0o

"Daisy, Violet, Lily," greeted Misty curtly near the edge of the Cerulean Gym pool as Ash – who was carrying Ruby – and Pikachu trailed behind.

"The prodigal sister returns," proclaimed the blue haired sister sarcastically.

"Water master yet?" asked the sister with red hair.

Misty merely gave a glare in response.

"Are you going to introduce us?" asked the last – and apparently oldest looking – sister who possessed blond hair.

"Huh?" asked Misty as she momentarily forgot her anger. "Oh – Ash."

Misty grabbed Ash by the arm and dragged him to the forefront of the group.

"Ash Ketchum meet my sisters," said Misty.

"This is Daisy," she said as she pointed at the blond sister.

"That's Violet," she said again as she pointed at the blue haired sister.

"And that is Lily," she finished as she pointed at the sister with pink hair.

"So… he's your boyfriend?" asked Daisy.

"What?" replied Ash and Misty in unison. "No!"

"He's not my boyfriend, Daisy," said Misty with her hands on her hips.

"Right…" responded the sister sceptically.

"So have you been looking after the gym?" asked Misty forcefully, moving on.

"Well, yea, of course we have!" replied Violet.

"Like, we can't host our shows in a dump!" said Lily.

"Shows?" asked Misty with confusion. "What do you mean by shows?"

"Like, performances… plays, you uncouth little brat," replied Lily irritably.

Misty scowled at being called both uncouth and a little brat but she was more concerned about what they were talking about to be bothered by that right now.

"You've been using the gym to host shows?" she asked as she made the connections.

"Well, duh," replied Violet condescendingly.

"What about the gym, then?" demanded Misty. "Have you even been running the gym?"

"Well, like, we've been handing out badges and stuff," replied Lily.

"Yea… we've been doing gym stuff," continued Daisy with a slight nervousness which Misty immediately latched onto.

"Have you actually won any battles?"

"Well, no…" said Daisy with a hint of shame.

"How can you not win a single battle?" shouted Misty.

"Because we – like – just hand the badges out," said Lily nonchalantly eliciting a small wince from Daisy.

"You what?" screeched Misty. "You just handed them out?"

"Well, yea – It's not like we can beat them so what is the point?"

"Like only last week we were utterly creamed by some arrogant little brat from some backwater nowhere place called Pallet Town," said Lily as the flipped hair out of her face. "I'm like _not_ going through _that_ humiliation again."

Misty looked despairingly between Lily and Violet.

"Do you even care about the gym?" shouted Misty.

Ash could detect a bit of pain even through the shouting while Daisy actually looked guilty. Lily and Violet however didn't seem fazed by the comment.

"Well, not really, I – like – prefer doing shows instead," said Lily as Violet nodded.

Clearly this was the wrong thing to say.

"WHAT?"

"We prefer doing shows," said Violet unbothered by her youngest sister's distress.

"Daisy?" asked Misty quietly.

Daisy didn't respond for several seconds

"I admit I prefer doing shows," said Daisy carefully.

Misty's face fell as she – disheartened – turned around and left her sisters behind.

o0o0o0o

Without prompting, Ash and Pikachu followed Misty into the accommodation and living area of the Gym. Silently she led them upstairs.

"You can stay here, Ash," she said quietly as she indicated to a guest bedroom.

Misty didn't say anything else as she closed the door behind herself as she entered her own room.

"Uh – do you think we're supposed to do something, buddy?" asked Ash.

"Pi-ka," replied Pikachu with a shake of his head. He was pretty sure Ash would bungle any comforting up and just make the situation worse.

"Alright then," said Ash.

Ash opened the door to his provided room. Inside he found a simple room with a double bed, a TV and an outdated computer that he suspected didn't even have internet access. Everything looked like it hadn't been touched in a long time.

"Well," said Ash as he gazed around the room. "I guess it's better than what we'd get in a Pokémon Centre, right buddy?"

Pikachu responded in the affirmative as Ash dropped his bag on the bed before checking if there was anything he missed in the room.

"I guess we should get some training in," said Ash. "Never hurts to get some in before a battle."

Ash, Pikachu and Ruby – who was in Ash's arms and had fallen asleep – left the room before Ash nervously knocked on the door to Misty's room.

"Uh – Misty?" asked Ash to which Misty didn't respond so he continued anyway. "I'm going to go find somewhere to train."

Ash heard some mumbled words through the door so assuming she heard him he left down the stairs and passed the gym pool to shouts. Ever curious Ash poked his head around the bleachers to see the Blond sister – _Daisy_ he remembered – actually shouting angrily at the two younger sisters. It being none of his business Ash moved on in search of a nice remote place that would enable him to train Ruby without any eavesdroppers.

o0o0o0o

Remembering the Professor's warnings Ash and Pikachu had to walk a good thirty minutes out of town and off the beaten track before they felt safe training Ruby openly. Ruby had woken back up during the walk and eventually Ash told her she could transform back upon which she started to fly around and curiously examine the clearing they had come to a stop in to train.

"Pidgeotto, come on out!" called Ash as he threw the Pokéball causing Pidgeotto to appear with a small flash of red light before landing gracefully on a nearby log awaiting orders.

So far the training for Ash's two main Pokémon had been quite simple; speed. Both Pikachu and Pidgeotto suffered the same problem that they weren't the most physically strong of Pokémon. A single good hit from a reasonably powerful Pokémon that had a type advantage over either of them would put them down for a battle. The solution to this was simple for a pair of naturally speedy Pokémon; don't get hit.

"Alright Pidgeotto," said Ash as he decided on what today's training would entail. "We've got plenty of trees here so focus on both your speed and high speed manoeuvrability."

Pidgeotto knew what to do and immediately got onto it; flying fast through the forest and navigating around trees very quickly the wake he made through the air would rustle leaves and branches as he passed.

Ash knew there was more to avoiding attacks than simple raw speed. A Pokémon who moved in a straight line very fast to counter a ranged attack could be counter-countered with some practice of hitting moving targets. However, when a target moved both at high speed and erratically they became almost impossible to hit. The purpose of flying fast through heavy forest was to teach that; if you can't change direction quickly you'll hit a tree.

Moving onto his main purpose though, he called Ruby over.

"Ruby, over here!" he asked causing her look in his direction before eagerly flying his way and landing on his shoulder.

"Mew!" she said happily, earning scratch behind the ears.

So far Ruby hadn't been in any battles. She had demonstrated a few moves for Professor Oak against debris like small trees and branches in one of the forests near Pallet Town but that was it. So Ash wanted to give her a simple mock battle to introduce the concept to her.

"You up to give a battle a go, Ruby?"

"Mew!" she replied as a yes.

"Alright then," he replied. "You'll be up against Pikachu. Can you go to the other side of the clearing for now?"

Ruby nodded before flying over to the other side of the makeshift battle field.

"You game, Pikachu?"

"Pi-ka!" he replied surely.

"Good," said Ash before adding more quietly. "Go nicely on her though; she is just a baby after all."

Pikachu gave a clear nod before readying himself for a fight. Satisfied that Pikachu could hold his own ground without direction he retreated to behind Ruby to direct her.

"Alright, Pikachu, you have first move," called Ash thinking it was best to get Ruby used to starting from a weaker defensive position rather than the position of attack.

With the go ahead Pikachu quickly charged a Thunderbolt – a Thunderbolt that looked significantly weaker than usual – and shot it at Ruby.

"Quick, move!" shouted Ash.

Instead of moving straight away however, she looked over her shoulder at Ash in confirmation – or possibly reassurance – before moving, and Ash immediately knew she wouldn't get out of the way in time as he watched in what felt like slow motion the Thunderbolt – which despite being weaker than normal would still probably hurt – fly towards Ruby… and miss; causing Ruby to give a startled jump.

Ash was puzzled for a few seconds there; Pikachu shouldn't have missed at that range. Before realising that Pikachu was taking 'go nicely' a bit more seriously that Ash thought he would.

"Ruby, Reflect Type!" ordered Ash causing Pikachu and Ruby to each give off a single blue pulse of light. "Now – Pound!"

At the same time as Ruby began to rapidly approach Pikachu to perform the attack, Pikachu charged another weak Thunderbolt and let it lose at Ruby. When it struck her she gave a noticeable wince but didn't stop moving due to the type resistance offered by Reflect Type. Quickly she approached engagement range and began to turn, whipping her tail around so she could use it to strike Pikachu.

Pikachu didn't move to dodge as he intended to let Ruby get a move in before giving her another Thunderbolt, possibly followed by either Double Team to confuse her or maybe quick attack just to give a bit of variety – and more experience – to Ruby; he didn't expect the match to last much longer than that.

However, just as the rapidly moving tail came into view he realised it was moving a lot quicker than expect and then he came to the realization that he _probably_ should have moved before being struck in the side of the face by said tail; causing him to be lifted off his feet and fly several metres through the air and land on his already sore face.

Ruby immediately burst into tears and flew into Ash's arms while a bewildered – and slightly sore – Pikachu looked on. Ash was slightly stunned by the proceedings and it took several seconds for him to respond to Ruby's pleas for comfort.

"Uh – It's ok Ruby," said Ash unsure of why she was crying.

Pikachu however could understand why she was crying through to sobs as he quickly approached Ash who was still comforting Ruby.

"Pika-pi!" called Pikachu as he tried the gain the attention of Ruby.

Thankfully any bruises Pikachu had gained were covered up by his yellow fur and he didn't sustain any injuries that might cause a limp, so he could easily reassure Ruby that he was fine and that she hadn't done any damage.

Hearing Pikachu's call Ruby lifted her head from where she had been crying onto Ash and looked down at the – visibly – health Pikachu causing her to give a cry, fly out of Ash's arms and actually hug a surprised Pikachu. Pikachu returned the hug with an awkward pat on the back.

"Uh – do you want to continue?" asked an unsure Ash.

Ruby didn't reply and Pikachu gave a sad shake of the head.

"Alright then," said Ash with a hint of sadness.

Ash was just about to organise some individual training for Pikachu when they heard a crash and a screech in the forest.

o0o0o0o

Ash, Pikachu and Ruby were waiting in the Pokémon centre nervously for Nurse Joy to come out with – hopefully – good news.

While Ash, Pikachu and Ruby had been conducting their mock battle, Pidgeotto had been continuing his training. Whether it was because of exhaustion, complacency or just sheer dumb luck didn't really matter when Pidgeotto clipped a branch with his wing and crashed to the ground. Ash had then raced to the Pokémon centre to get Pidgeotto looked after.

Breaking the silence, the door to the infirmary opened.

"Nurse Joy!" called Ash. "Is Pidgeotto going to be ok?"

"Don't worry, Ash, he's going to be fine," said Nurse Joy reassuringly. "I want to keep him in the infirmary overnight though for observation."

Relieved but still a little shaken Ash nodded.

"Mind if we going in and say hi?" he asked.

"That won't be a problem, Ash," she replied with a smile.

Ash sent into the infirmary to find Pidgeotto asleep and under the influence of several types of medication, so he sat with Pidgeotto for a while and eventually left once he saw it getting late with the intention of returning tomorrow morning.

o0o0o0o

"Misty?" called Ash as he entered the living area of the Cerulean City Gym.

"Oh – Ash," said Misty from behind him causing Ash to give a small jump and spin around. "I was just looking for you and wondering if you wanted to join us for dinner."

Facing Misty he could see fait rings around her eyes. The way she talked still sounded a bit… _flat_ he thought, but it was better than when he had last seen her.

"Uh, yea – dinner sounds good," he said as his stomach rumbled and Pikachu nodded vigorously – Ruby – in Pichu form – was asleep again. "That's with your sisters?"

Misty twitched slightly at the mention.

"Yes."

Nodding, Ash and Pikachu followed Misty to the Gym's living area and dining room.

Upon entering even Ash could see something was up; the blond – Daisy – was giving furious glances towards the two blue and red haired middle aged sisters who didn't seem all that cowed by their elder's glares as she carried a large pot into the room and placed it in the centre of the table.

"Um – hi!" said Ash, gaining the attention of the three older Waterflower sisters.

"Uh – hi," said Daisy. "Ash, isn't it?"

Ash nodded.

"Take a seat."

Ash did as asked, taking a seat next to Misty at the table and Pikachu on the table on the other side of Misty. Ruby was asleep on Ash's lap – he assumed she would have some Pokémon food later.

"So where did you two meet?" asked Daisy with a smirk.

Misty glanced at Ash – knowing that Daisy meant by 'meet' – who didn't seem to have connected what Daisy had said.

"Well, Ash stole my bike about a week ago rescuing an injured Pokémon," explained Misty. "Ruby, the – uh – Pichu."

"It is a pretty cute Pokémon. That's why you hung around Ash, wasn't it?" asked Daisy jokingly which Misty ignored.

"Anyway, after patching Ruby up, Professor Oak – Pallet town's resident Pokémon Professor – offered us both a lift to Cerulean City," continued Misty.

"Professor Oak…" repeated Daisy as she tried to remember where she had heard that name. "Isn't that the Haiku guy on the TV?"

Ash nodded furiously at that as he quickly tried to swallow the spaghetti in his mouth.

"Yes," said Ash after a gulp. "The Professor really likes his Haiku."

The conversation after that was still strained while Violet and Lily simply didn't join in.

o0o0o0o

Ash was in his having just given Ruby some food later that night when there was a knock at the door.

"Ash? You decent?" came the voice of Misty through the door.

"Uh – yea," he replied causing Misty to open the door, enter and shut it quietly behind her.

"Ash, we need to work out Ruby's cover story better," she said as she gave the pink psychic-type a scratch.

"Um – why?" he asked.

"Well, people might look at her more closely if they start hearing inconsistencies regarding her," explained Misty. "You really can't risk it."

The pair discussed what the story would be using what they had already told Misty's sisters as a base – it wouldn't do to change that now and have them point it out.

"So when can we have a battle?" asked Ash once they had got Ruby's story down pat. "It can't be tomorrow."

"The day after?" suggested Misty to which Ash agreed.

"Goodnight, Ash," said Misty as she left and closed the door behind her.

"Night, Misty."

Not long after – Ash had just started changing into his pyjamas – shouting could be heard in the corridor.

"Daisy!" exclaimed Misty. "He's not my boyfriend!"

Ash was a bit confused why Misty's eldest sister kept saying that.

o0o0o0o

The first thing Ash had done the next morning was go to the Pokémon centre to pick up a healthy Pidgeotto. Then – after a thanks to Nurse Joy – he went to find Misty so they could get some breakfast before the presentation which started at ten AM.

After breakfast at a takeaway place Ash, Misty, Pikachu and Ruby walked to the convention centre and found Professor Oak waiting out the front for them.

"Morning, kids," he greeted. "All ready?"

Ash and Misty nodded.

"Good," replied the Professor. "Now, normally you'd have to pay for the full conference just to see one presentation but I have a bit of pull and can get you in. Also remember to be polite and please don't talk while Doctor Halling is presenting his paper – it would reflect rather poorly on me if someone I brought in was rude."

"Understood, Professor," they replied.

"Pokémon too," added Professor Oak to which Pikachu nodded and Ruby didn't – she seemed to be distracted by the sights.

Ruby seemed to be getting better around people. She no longer shied away from sight when seeing new things but she still didn't like going near new people or Pokémon.

"Very well," said the Professor assuming he wasn't going to get a response from Ruby. "Please follow me."

Professor Oak led the group up the stone steps and into the entrance hall of the conference centre where a large group of people who predominantly were wearing either lab coats or well-worn clothing like hikers – or many well season Pokémon trainers – might wear were gathered. Professor Oak led the group around the mob of scientists and archaeologists, occasionally saying hello or greeting some. As they nearly finished passing the mob they were cut off by a short and somewhat stern looking middle aged woman with bob-cut greying brown hair.

"Carolina!" said the Professor jovially. "It had been a while, hasn't it?"

"Samuel," replied Carolina with a tiny smirk. "I wasn't expecting you to be here; I hear you're hardly out of the lab these days – especially for an archaeology conference."

"Well, my trainers keep sending in lots of interesting Pokémon I've never studies before," he explained. "I have lots of things to do – though I do wish I got out into the field more often."

"So…" said Misty abruptly.

"Oh – yes," said Professor Oak in realisation. "Ash, Misty, meet Professor Carolina."

"Children," she replied giving a nod. "My granddaughter is around your age; she's around here somewhere."

Professor Carolina glanced around for the distinctive baubled blond hair of her granddaughter before spotting her listening in on a discussion between Doctor Halling and some researchers from Hoenn.

"Cynthia!" she called out causing the blond to perk up and turn to face her grandmother. "I have some people you might want to meet."

Cynthia gave a nod and walked over to greet these new people.

"Cynthia, I'd like you to meet a friend of mine; Professor Oak," introduced Professor Carolina.

"Nice to meet you, Professor," she greeted politely with a small smile. "I've read some of your work."

"Nice to meet you as well, Cynthia – and that's good to hear," said Professor Oak as he returned the greeting. "This here is Ash who's one of my new trainers and Misty who's one of the Cerulean City Gym leaders."

Ash and Misty gave Cynthia a smile and a nod each.

"Have you started your journey yet?" asked Cynthia to Ash.

"Yea, just last week," replied Ash. "What about you?"

"Grandmother said when I'm fourteen I can start, so about… _three month_s," replied Cynthia with a hint of sadness.

"Have you got your starter yet?" asked Misty.

At the question Cynthia pulled a Pokéball off her belt, expanded it and then released the Pokémon inside.

"Gible!" announced the grey and red Pokémon as Cynthia picked it up. Ash and Misty noted the very large mouth and several large teeth.

"Grandmother gave me him on my tenth birthday," said Cynthia proudly.

Gible wasn't the prettiest of Pokémon but Cynthia clearly adored it.

"What Pokémon is it?" asked Misty curiously but before Cynthia could answer Ash pulled out his Pokédex.

"_Gible, the Dragon and Ground-type Pokémon,"_ said the electronic voice of the Pokédex. "_It nests in deep holes warmed by geothermal heat and attacks using its huge mouth."_

"I've never heard of a Gible before and I can recognise most of the Pokémon found in Kanto," said Misty as she examined the Gible. "I take it that Gible isn't from around here?"

"No, Gible is native to Sinnoh. That's where Grandmother and I are from – Celestic Town to be precise," explained Cynthia.

Ash and Misty gave a nod in understanding.

"So what were your starters?" she asked looking at the Pikachu on Ash's shoulder.

Ash turned to Misty curious himself what Misty's starter was but she instead indicated to Ash to go first.

"Well Pikachu was my starter, I got him from Professor Oak," said Ash as he pointed to Pikachu.

At the mentioning of Professor Oak the three teens turned to the two Professors to find they had started their own conversation and weren't listening.

"Do they normally give Pikachu's as starters in Kanto?" asked Cynthia curiously as she turned back to the conversation. "I thought the standard starters in most regions were either a fire, a grass or a water-type."

"Well – no," replied Ash sheepishly as Pikachu gave an awkward scratch. "The morning I was getting my starter I missed my alarm and everyone else took the normal starters so Professor Oak gave me Pikachu."

Cynthia thought that was a bit odd but passed up the thought.

"So are you just in Kanto with your grandmother for this conference?" asked Misty. "Are you doing anything else while in Kanto?"

"We're only here for the conference unfortunately," replied Cynthia sadly. "While I enjoy it I would like to see some of the Kanto sights and maybe try catching a few Pokémon but we pretty much have to return to Sinnoh when the conference ends."

Ash, Misty and Pikachu nodded sadly at that.

"I see you've got a Pichu as well as a Pikachu, did you breed her?" asked Cynthia moving on.

"Huh? No, I found Ruby being attacked by Spearow a bit under two weeks back," replied Ash. "It's when I met Misty as well."

Cynthia and Misty were both about to respond when they were cut off by Professors' Oak and Carolina returning.

"The presentation is about to start, why don't we go in?"

o0o0o0o

Ash and Misty had been given seats at the back of the auditorium by Professor Oak where Cynthia joined them.

"Do you normally sit at the back?" asked Ash. He assumed she would sit with her grandmother.

"I normally sit with Grandmother," replied Cynthia.

Misty assumed that Cynthia just wanted to sit with people her own age for once and pushed it out of her mind as Doctor Halling – a glasses-clad doctor in his mid-twenties – began his presentation.

o0o0o0o

As people got up to leave the auditorium the three teens saw Professor Oak approach Doctor Halling to talk to him. Interested in what might be said they walked to the front to join him.

Doctor Halling's presentation had been interesting but they didn't learn anything about Ruby in it. Like Professor oak had said the presentation was on ancient cultures that worshiped Mew rather than Mew themselves.

"I didn't expect to see you here actually, Professor," said Doctor Halling as they reached the pair.

"Well," replied Professor Oak as he scratched his head awkwardly. "That happens to be exactly what Carolina said."

"Yes…" replied Doctor Halling. "So what have you been up to recently, Professor?"

"Things here and there," replied Professor Oak absently. "Though recently… I'm going to be writing a paper on Mew actually."

"Really?" asked Doctor Halling as his eyebrows shot up.

Ash and misty went wide eyed at Professor Oak's revelation before giving each other a sideways glance. Ruby – who had moved into Misty's grasp during the presentation – was sitting in Misty's arms attentively; she had heard her old name mentioned.

"What exactly are you going to do it on?" asked Doctor Halling as he adjusted his glasses. "I'm not sure what a Pokémon researcher could do that hasn't been done already."

"Well, one of my trainers found a young and injured Mew about a week and a half ago," replied the Professor proudly. "First time it's ever happened and I managed to get some data so I'll be writing a paper on her."

Doctor Halling and Cynthia gasped at this while Ash and Misty each tried to force a smile as if they weren't internally cringing at the Professors boasting.

"Y-y-you really?" he sputtered eyes wide. "You really found a Mew?"

Professor Oak nodded before cutting the doctor off before he could start asking a dozen of the million questions racing through his head.

"Well… one of my trainers did – but he paper will be out in a few weeks, you just have to wait for it to be delivered," said Professor Oak quickly.

Meanwhile Cynthia was staring intently at the Pichu in Misty's arms wide eyed, rapidly making the necessary connections to figure out Ruby's true nature. Seeing this Misty gave a sigh which brought it to Ash's attention who too sighed.

"Come on," said Misty as she directed Ash and Cynthia towards the back of the auditorium. As they got out of earshot of the Professor and Doctor, Cynthia decided to be blunt.

"That isn't a Pichu, is it?" she said causing Ash, Misty and Pikachu to give perfectly timed sighs.

"No," replied Ash.

"So… so you found a Mew?" asked Cynthia.

Ash gave a weak nod.

"I can understand why you're trying to keep her a secret," said Cynthia thoughtfully. "It would make you a target. Don't worry, I promise my lips are sealed."

Ash gave Cynthia small smile at her promise.

"Is it possible I could see … _Ruby_ –" said Cynthia as she remembered Ruby's name. "– in her normal form?"

"Hmm, maybe," replied Ash as he thought it over; it wasn't like any more damage could be done. "It definitely can't be here though."

"The gym has privacy," suggested Misty with a small wince. "We could go now."

"Are you sticking around for the other presentations?"

"Uhh," thought Cynthia before shaking her head. "I don't think so; this is too valuable to pass up. Let me tell Grandmother and then we can go."

"Don't tell her about Ruby!" said Ash and Misty at the same time before Ash continued. "It's got to stay a secret."

"I wasn't going to; I'm just telling her I won't be here."

o0o0o0o

"So do you know a lot about Mew?" asked Misty as they walked towards the gym.

"A bit," replied Cynthia. "Mew worship isn't anywhere near as common in Sinnoh as it is here but there are still a few temples dedicated to Mew in Sinnoh and I've been to a few dig sites where they uncovered them."

"So do you want to be an archaeologist like your grandmother?" asked Ash.

"Not really," replied Cynthia before continuing enthusiastically. "Archaeology is more like a hobby for me. I actually want to be a Pokémon Master!"

"Now you're sounding like Ash," said Misty with a giggle. "That's what he keeps saying."

"Hey!" replied Ash indignantly. "You can't talk; you want to become a water Pokémon Master!"

"And you're a gym leader?" asked Cynthia. "That's what Professor Oak said, didn't he?"

"I'm one of them," replied Misty. "I have three older sisters who are _technically_ also gym leaders."

"Hey, what happened with that, anyway?" asked Ash. "You seemed pretty put out with how your sisters were managing the gym."

"I'd rather not talk about it," said Misty quietly.

"So…" said Cynthia after a few moments. "Got any gym badges yet?"

"Only one so far," said Ash, brightening up. "I'll have two tomorrow though."

"Oh – please," said Misty. "There is no guarantee you'll beat me tomorrow."

"Sure," said Ash as he rolled his eyes. "Say, how many Pokémon do I have to use? I've only got two who can really battle."

"Only two?" repeated Cynthia.

"Yea," replied Ash. "Pikachu and Pidgeotto. I have a Magikarp as well that I hope will soon evolve into a Gyarados but it's kind've useless for battling right now, and I don't think Ruby will be battling for a long time."

"You shouldn't use her anyway as it will go on your official league record what Pokémon you use in a gym battle… Wait – what do you mean she won't be battling for a long time? She's a…" Misty paused for a second and looked around for anyone who could overhear them. With no one in earshot she continued more quietly. "She's a legendary, why can't she battle?"

"Well…" said Ash as he thought how to phrase it. "Yesterday we went out into the woods so we could do some training. I thought it would be a good idea to introduce Ruby to battling so I had her go up against Pikachu."

"Did she get hurt?" asked Cynthia curiously.

"Well – no," replied Ash awkwardly. "She use Pound on Pikachu which I guess was reasonably effective…"

"Pika," agreed Pikachu from Ash's shoulder as he rubbed his still slightly sore cheek.

"And then she started crying," continued Ash. "I think she was really scared she hurt Pikachu."

Misty and Cynthia pondered this in silence.

"I think it will be a long time before I can get her interested in battling now," said Ash.

"What Pokémon have you got, Cynthia?" asked Misty as they neared the Gym.

"At the moment all I've got is Gible and an Eevee," she replied.

"Ohh – they're so cute! Do you know what you're going to evolve it into?" asked Misty. "I want one to evolve into Vaporeon."

Ash smirked at Misty acting like a girl for once.

"Yea – I've got it all worked out," replied Cynthia confidently. "I'm going to evolve her into Glaceon; that will complement Gible nicely I think."

"Gible is weak to what… Ice, Dragon and Fairy-types? Isn't it? While resistant to Poison, Rock and Fire, and immune to Electric-types," mused Ash as he thought it through. "Glaceon is weak to Fighting, Rock, Steel and Fire-types and resistant to Ice-types. Gible covers Glaceon's weaknesses and Glaceon covers Gible's. That right?"

"Yea," replied Cynthia as she too though it through. "That was the intention."

"Wow, Ash, You actually put some thought into something," teased Misty which got Ash in a huff.

o0o0o0o

Ruby was once again doing aerial summersaults as she tried to examine her own tail as Misty and Cynthia giggled and Ash watched on.

Ruby seemed to be warming to people ever faster. It had only taken a few minutes of encouragement under Ash's watchful eye and she was happy to be cuddled by joyous Cynthia.

"This is still so amazing," commented Cynthia as they watched Ruby fly around. "I mean, I know you said you had a Mew back at the conference centre but it didn't really hit me until I actually saw her."

"She is pretty special, isn't she?" said Misty.

"Yeah," said Ash with a small smile.

o0o0o0o

The three ended up in a burger joint for a slightly late lunch.

"So you found Ruby being attacked by Spearow?" asked Cynthia as she moved onto her chips.

"Yea, still no sure why though," replied Ash after hastily swallowing his food. "It's a bit weird."

"It could have been anything from abandonment to getting lost to someone capturing her mother," added Misty.

"Or maybe that's just how Mew raise their young," said Cynthia with a small shrug and a frown as she glanced at Ruby.

Ruby had gone back to sleep as a Pichu again and was sleeping on the spare seat at the table.

"So yea, me and Pikachu found Ruby injured," said Ash. "Pikachu kept the Spearow back and we ran off. I eventually found Misty's bike –"

"And stole it."

"– And stole it to get Ruby back to the Professor's lab," continued Ash as Cynthia listened intently before he jerked his thumb in Misty's direction. "Misty showed up the next day I think looking for her bike."

"I did," she said.

"So have you been travelling long together?" asked Cynthia before directing another question solely at Misty. "What was Ash like in his first gym battle?"

"We haven't really been travelling together; Professor Oak only gave us a lift in his car from Pallet Town," said Misty.

"Yea, we've only known each other a week or so."

"So you're staying in Cerulean City then?"

"Wha – no!" said Misty quickly. "I won't be here for long."

"So you'll probably go with Ash then?" she asked.

"Well, maybe – I guess," said Misty awkwardly.

"I wouldn't mind," said Ash. "I'm sure we wouldn't mind."

"Pika!" said Pikachu in agreement as he momentarily abandoned his tomato sauce causing Misty to give Pikachu a small smile.

"Still, I'm interested in hearing about Ash's first gym battle," said Cynthia.

"I wasn't there," replied Misty. "Ash got his Boulder badge before I met him."

"You did? Didn't you start your journey last week though?" asked Cynthia with slight confusion.

"Well, yea," replied Ash awkwardly. "Mum had to go to Pewter City for some reason and she brought me along – this was maybe a year and a half back. While we were there we decided to try and get the Boulder Badge from the Pewter City Gym."

"What Pokémon did you use?" asked Misty.

"Uhh – Pikachu and Pidgeotto," replied Ash as he scratched his hair awkwardly when he saw the look of confusion Misty's face. "Well, actually just Pikachu."

"Wait, is Pewter City one of those gyms that love dual rock/ground-types?" asked Cynthia with realisation.

"Yea, Pewter City is a rock-type gym, and I know Brock is fond of dual rock/ground-types," said Misty after blinking a few times. "How did you do it Ash?"

"Well…" said Ash awkwardly. "I _really _wasn't the best trainer then; I was a bit of an idiot."

"Pika," said a somewhat subdued Pikachu as he nodded.

"Yea," agreed Ash with a small wince before he continued his story. "Basically Pikachu set off the fire alarm in the gym. Obviously Gym Leader Brock's Pokémon didn't like that and combined with electricity… Well, you get the picture I think."

"A bit of luck then?" asked a stunned Cynthia.

"That would be a massive understatement," said Ash with a sigh. "I feel pretty bad about my Boulder Badge, actually. I don't feel we… really earned it. Honestly, Brock should have kicked our asses."

"So that's why you've been trying to get Pikachu to learn Iron Tail?" asked Misty.

"Yea, that's why," replied Ash. "At the moment ground-types are a _major _weak point for us; unless Magikarp evolves."

"Don't think that because you have the type advantage that you'll win tomorrow," said Misty.

"So Ash is going up against you tomorrow then?" asked Cynthia in realisation before Ash could respond to which they both nodded.

"Yea, Ash is battling me for the Cascade Badge," replied Misty.

"Cool, can I watch?" asked Cynthia with a smile to which they both nodded. "I wish Grandmother would let me start battling gyms but she keeps telling me to wait until I'm fourteen."

"A couple of months, wasn't it?"

"Yea, three months and then I can start travelling around Sinnoh," she replied.

"Is the league in Sinnoh like the one in Kanto?" asked Ash.

"I would guess it is," replied Cynthia before pausing to think. "In Sinnoh you have to have eight badges to enter the league conference. If you win that you can challenge the Elite Four and then you can go on to challenge the Champion."

"That sounds just like the Indigo League to me," replied Misty.

"I wish I could start now," said Cynthia with a sigh.

o0o0o0o

Cynthia was seated next to Professor Oak in the stands, feverishly interrogating the Pokémon Professor on his research which the Professor happily answered – both were under strict instructions to look after Ruby. Two rows further back were a bored looking Violet and Lily while the eldest sister was on the referee podium ready to start the match.

"Good luck, Ash!" called out Professor Oak.

"Yea, good luck Ash!" added Cynthia.

"I see you've been getting along well with Ash and Misty then?" asked the Professor quietly.

"Pikachu and Ruby too," she added. "Ruby is quite adorable."

"You – uhh…" trailed off the Professor.

"Know what she is?" asked Cynthia gave the Pokémon in question a scratch to which Professor Oak nodded. "Yes."

"I told Ash he shouldn't tell too many people," said the Professor with a sigh. "Not that you're not untrustworthy but the less people who know the better."

"They didn't, I figured it out myself."

"This is an official Pokémon gym battle between Misty, the Cerulean City Gym leader, and the challenger; Ash of Pallet Town, for the Cascade Badge," called out Daisy cutting off Professor Oak and Cynthia's conversation. "As agreed this is a two-on-two battle and only the challenger can substitute Pokémon. Are the trainers ready?"

"We are," called out Ash as he saw the determination on Misty's face.

"I'm surprised you don't have a script in hand, Daisy," quipped Misty despite being focused on the water battlefield.

"I was up all night practicing," muttered Daisy. "Trainers, release your Pokémon."

"Pidgeotto, I choose you!" called out Ash as he released the Pokémon from the Pokéball.

Pidgeotto flapped his wings as he hover in front of Ash, getting ready to stare down his opponent and attack at a moment's notice.

Ash only had two useable Pokémon so Misty didn't need to put any thought into it when she called out her own.

"Staryu, let's go!" she called as the Pokémon appeared on the platform in front of her with a red flash.

"Challenger, you have the first move. Begin!"

As soon as Daisy said '_begin'_ Ash leaped into action.

"Quick Attack, go!"

Misty hadn't been expecting Ash to react so suddenly.

"Staryu, into the water! Quickly!" called Misty.

Staryu was in the water, but not through the method Misty had intended; before Misty had finished issuing her command, Pidgeotto had slammed into Staryu pushing the water-type into the pool. She had already lost the initiative and had to regain it quickly.

"Staryu, use Swift to fly out of the water and hit Pidgeotto with a Rapid Spin!"

"Circle the centre platform and watch the water, Pidgeotto," called Ash.

Pidgeotto immediately did as told and kept a keen eye on the surface of the water. Ash was hoping that with the platform in the way he had reduced the area Staryu could emerge from slightly and forced it to attack from the side, giving Pidgeotto a few extra milliseconds to dodge the blow with the longer distance Staryu would have to cover through the air.

Everyone held their breath waiting for the splash that would signify Staryu's reappearance.

"Dive!" Ash called as the red, gold and brown blur shot towards Pidgeotto's position.

Pidgeotto tucked in his wings and let gravity do the work; plummeting towards the platform only to have the sharp spinning edge of Staryu graze his back. He gave out a squawk of pain; just managing to open his wings again before he hit the surface of the platform as his claws scratched its surface.

"Alright, Staryu, onto the platform and follow it up with Watergun!" called the Gym Leader.

"To the corner of the field, Pidgeotto," called Ash as Staryu fired off his first burst of water. "Dodge it!"

Pidgeotto rolled to the side and down before flapping his wings harder and levelling out again, the stream of water passing to his side as he hoped to get out of range of the Watergun at the field's edge.

"Staryu, again! And keep it up!"

This wouldn't happen; Pidgeotto was still well in range of Staryu's Watergun. Cursing quietly Ash gave another order.

"Use your speed, Pidgeotto, pretend you're still flying through the forest!"

Ash didn't particularly want to make that comparison so soon following Pidgeotto's little mishap two days before, but it did quickly convey the idea of what Ash wanted him to do before Staryu could land a hit with its Watergun. Ash made a note to kick himself later for only giving Pidgeotto a quick fly after his injury the night before and not a full training session; if there were still any issues this would show it.

Everyone watched as Pidgeotto flew erratically through the air around the edge of the field, dodging streams of water from Staryu. Seeing that Pidgeotto was tiring faster than he thought he would Ash decided this couldn't be a game of who could outlast who.

"Pidgeotto, use Gust!" called Ash timing it for only a few seconds before Staryu would launch another Watergun.

The wind buffeted the water-type Pokémon but at the distance between them the attack didn't knock Staryu off the platform. Staryu however – as ordered – launched another Watergun which turned to mist long before it reached Pidgeotto.

"Quick Attack, Pidgeotto!" called Ash.

Having just fired another Watergun, it was unlikely that Staryu could get off another before being struck by the Quick Attack. Ash watched as the large bird Pokémon got closer and closer to its target.

"Tackle, Staryu!" cried Misty.

Staryu pushed itself off the platform and into the air at the rapidly approaching Pidgeotto where they both collided with a thump; Pidgeotto landing in the water and Staryu shooting past to bounce off one of the side platform and land too in the water.

"Uh…" said Daisy as she looked between the slowly pulsing red gem of Staryu as it floated motionless in the water and the panicking form of Pidgeotto exhaustedly trying to swim.

"Pidgeotto, return," called Ash as the flailing Pokémon disappeared in a flash of red light.

"You did a good job, Staryu, return," said Misty with a sigh.

"Bot Pokémon are unable to battle. Trainers, send out your next Pokémon," called Daisy as she regained her bearings.

"Daisy really shouldn't have called Ash out yet," said Professor Oak quietly over in the stands. "While Misty wouldn't have been able to return Staryu to the field, Ash could still have used Pidgeotto."

"True," replied Cynthia. "I don't think he would have though; Pidgeotto was pretty beaten up."

"Still, Daisy obviously doesn't referee often; I'll just have a word with her after the battle about it."

Cynthia nodded as she returned to the match.

"Let's go, Starmie!" called Misty as she released her second and final Pokémon.

"Alright Pikachu, you're up," said Ash.

Pikachu just stood there as he looked back and forth between his trainer and Misty on the other side of the field. He then shook his head.

"Uh – what's wrong, buddy?" asked Ash worriedly. "We're kind've in the middle of a battle."

Pikachu attempted to mime fighting with his fists before grabbing his own ears and roughly impersonating Misty's tied to the side hair.

"Something to do with Misty?" asked Ash to which Pikachu nodded and mimed fighting again. "You don't want to fight her?"

"Pika-chu," replied Pikachu with a nod causing Ash to give a sigh.

"And you couldn't have told me this before?"

Pikachu abashedly scratched his ear when he realised he probably should have.

"So what am I supposed to do now? I can't send Magikarp out into the battle, Pikachu."

"What is taking so long, Ash?" shouted Misty across the battlefield.

"Uh – the challenger is reminded that unless he sends out a Pokémon he forfeits the round and the match," said Daisy weakly – she clearly didn't want to actually do that.

"Come on Pikachu, I'm sure Misty wants a decent battle," said Ash.

Pikachu was still torn about battling Misty when Ash realised what he could do to give Pikachu a little push. He gave a small smirk.

"I'm sure Misty doesn't want you going easy on her," said Ash loud enough to carry across the field to where Misty was waiting.

"Pikachu!" shouted an enraged Misty across the field. "Don't you dare give me a soft battle, get out here and fight me!"

Pikachu gave Ash a quick glare knowing exactly what he had done before agilely jumping on to the nearest floating platform and stood ready for the battle.

"Pikachu versus Starmie, begin!"

As before, Ash ordered Pikachu to move as soon as Daisy told them to begin, however Misty was expecting it.

"Thunderbolt!" called Ash hoping to end the match with one hit. It was unlikely if Misty was on her game though.

"Pii-kaa-chuu!" called Pikachu as he quickly tried to charge a Thunderbolt. However, before he could release it Misty gave her order.

"Into the water, Starmie!"

Starmie complied and sank to the bottom of the pool as Pikachu released his Thunderbolt harmlessly into the floating platform and water – there being too much water in the pool for Pikachu to energise and do damage to a submerged Pokémon.

"Starmie, use Swift to propel yourself out of the water and hit Pikachu with Rapid Spin," called Misty, hoping what she had attempted on Pidgeotto would be more effective on – what she presumed was – a slower Pikachu.

"Double Team, Pikachu!" with a quick nod to Ash Pikachu jumped and vanished; occasionally appearing on the floating platforms as he changed direction.

Starmie erupted from the surface of the water and as a blur sped towards one of the many image of Pikachu dotting the field.

"Watergun, Starmie!" called Misty before Starmie had even made contact with the possible location of Pikachu.

Landing on two of its arms, Starmie immediately fired off a jet of water at the closest image which uneventfully vanished and before Misty could tell it to fire again it automatically fired a jet of water at the next closest image.

By this point there was only three 'ghost' images left and it was a one in three chance that the jet of water would connect, it did; Pikachu was knocked off the platform and into the water. Pikachu – not far from the platform – quickly scrambled back onto it.

"Thunderbolt!" called Ash as Pikachu coughed up some water.

"Pii-kaa-chuu!" called Pikachu as the yellow bolt of electricity flew through the air an illuminated the inside of the gym.

"Water!" was all Misty managed to call as Starmie desperately tried to dive into the pool.

With the yellow flash of light from the Thunderbolt, no one was quite sure the thunderbolt had connected with Starmie, or possibly landing in the water next to it; Ash hoping it had done _some_ damage.

Everyone held their breath – except Pikachu who was trying to recover from the Watergun and the dunk in the pool – waiting to see if an unconscious Starmie floated to the surface. After several seconds Misty let her breath go, happy Starmie was still kicking and quickly decided what she was going to do to put Ash back on the defensive.

"Swift, followed by rapid spin again, Starmie!" called Misty, hoping she would get another hit in with Watergun and force Pikachu to use the non-damaging move Double Team.

"Double Team!"

Ash saw that Misty was going for a repeat and knew that keeping Pikachu on the defensive wouldn't help here; Double Team was exhausting. It would only be a few minutes before Pikachu wouldn't be able to keep up the speed needed – a pikachu's major defence – and end up getting hit either by Watergun or Rapid Spin.

Suddenly Ash had an idea; an untested idea but it _was _better than repeating Double Team endlessly until Pikachu was exhausted.

"Pikachu, onto the corner platform," called Ash as he pointed at the far left corner of the pool.

Ash had selected that particular corner because it was the only corner where one of the floating platforms had back into it. Pikachu came to a sliding stop on the platform.

"Charge a Thunderbolt, Pikachu!" called Ash.

Misty unwisely was trying to figure out what Ash was doing rather than stopping Starmie from continuing it attack when she suddenly realised why Ash had Pikachu backed into the corner of the pool.

The reason why earlier Ash didn't simply have Pikachu wait with a charged Thunderbolt for Starmie to emerge was that Starmie could emerge from any direction. By the time Pikachu would had turned and directed said Thunderbolt he would have had a gut full of reasonably pointy Starmie. Now though, Starmie could only come from a significantly smaller ninety degree arc. By the time Misty caught on, Starmie was uncontrollably leaving the surface of the pool.

"Now!" shouted Ash, and right on cue the gym was once again lit up by the yellow flash of Thunderbolt.

The Thunderbolt landed true and instantly knocked Starmie out of the match; who flew just over Pikachu's head and out of the field before skimming across the tiled gym floor and coming to a stop.

"Starmie!" called out Misty as she left the trainers box and ran towards her injured Pokémon.

Misty worriedly gave Starmie the once over and – satisfied it wasn't in any immediate danger – withdrew a Pokéball from her belt, enlarged it and returned Starmie to it.

"You did you best," murmured Misty quietly to the Pokéball.

Standing back up and giving Ash a small smile to indicate that Starmie would be okay, Misty returned to the box just as Daisy officially declared the battle.

"Starmie is unable to battle, Pikachu is the winner. The victory goes to Ash the challenger!" she called.

"Yes!" shouted Ash now it was official.

"Pika!" chirped Pikachu happily from Ash's shoulder after jumping to the side of the pool and racing towards Ash.

"Congratulations, my boy," said Professor Oak as he offered a handshake; the first person to make it from the stands to Ash. "For only your second gym battle I'd say that was an interesting battle; I think you have quite a bit of potential."

"Thanks, Professor."

"That was a good battle Ash," said Cynthia who was following the Professor. "I _was_ just expecting you to go for the brute force approach there."

"Huh?" asked Ash in confusion.

"I've made a habit of watching videos of official gym battles," she replied with a shrug. "Most new trainers seem to prefer a mass spamming of attacks – particularly when they have the type advantage – to win a battle; it was nice to see a battle where you used the field. Few higher level trainers use spamming as a tactic. That _was_ the first time I've seen a live gym battle though."

"Uh – thanks, I'll take it as a compliment."

"I meant it as such," replied Cynthia with a smile and a small giggle.

By this point Misty followed by Daisy had made it to the small congregation; however Lily and Violet were loitering with a bored expression by the foot of the stands which Misty noticed with a frown.

"Congratulations, Ash," said Misty – her face retuning to a smile – as she held out the tear drop shaped blue badge. "You earned that, it was a good battle."

o0o0o0o

Ash, Misty, Cynthia and the Professor ended up with Cynthia's grandmother at the Pokémon Centre for lunch as Pidgeotto, Starmie and Staryu were healed by Nurse Joy.

"Battling makes me hungry, doesn't it Pikachu?" said Ash as he dug into his meal.

"Pika-pi!" chirped Pikachu happily as he too dug into his food – Pokémon food and tomato sauce.

"You missed out on an interesting presentation on Kanto Proto-culture this morning," said Professor Carolina, directing the comment at both Professor Oak and Cynthia.

"True, but I did want to see how well one of my newer trainers was going," replied Professor Oak.

Satisfied with the answer Professor Caroline turned her gaze to her granddaughter.

"I've never seen a gym battle live before," said Cynthia with a shrug.

"Very well," said Professor Carolina with a sigh. "How did the battle go, then?"

"It was great, Grandmother," said Cynthia happily. "Ash and Misty drew the first round and then Pikachu defeated Misty's Starmie with just one hit! Well it's not that unexpected with Pikachu being and electric-type, Thunderbolt being an electric-type move and Starmie being a water-type, but it was still really good."

Cynthia finished her description breathlessly before dropping into a much more detailed and passionate description of the fight. Her grandmother listened intently and gave a small smile at how engrossed and passionate Cynthia was about Pokémon battling.

"… I just really wish I could start now," finished Cynthia as the spectators – Professor Oak, Misty, Ash, Pikachu and Ruby – watched on. "I don't really want to wait three months."

"Why don't you join Ash and Misty?" suggested Professor Oak as he glanced at Caroline who gave him a calculating gaze. "I'm sure your grandmother wouldn't mind you starting a few months early to accompany some new friends."

"In Kanto?" asked Cynthia to which Professor Oak nodded. "I didn't think I'd start in Kanto but I wouldn't mind actually doing that."

Cynthia turned to her grandmother and looked expectantly at her, about to plead her case.

"Does Mr Ketchum have a good head on his shoulders, Samuel?" asked Professor Carolina sternly.

"He does; if you'd asked me a few years ago I wouldn't say so – Ash was rather rash when he first got Pikachu – but he has grown up nicely," replied Professor Oak. "I haven't known Misty long but I believe she too is a responsible young lady; until recently she kept her older sisters and the Cerulean Gym in line."

"Hmm," she hummed as she thought about it before she realised it _was_ just three months and Cynthia was guaranteed to have some people looking out for her. She gave a sigh. "Very well."

"Yes!" exclaimed Cynthia loudly who looked like she was about to dance before she stopped suddenly and turned to Ash and Misty. "That's if you're ok with me tagging along."

"Of course we are, I'm happy to have any extra additions," replied Ash, breaking all of Cynthia's fear.

o0o0o0o

Ash and Misty had another tense takeaway dinner with Misty's sisters that night as they prepared to leave in the morning. When they finished Misty told Ash to go on and stayed behind to talk with her sisters. When Ash saw her again an hour later she looked a bit weary but at the same time a bit more confident.

They met up with Professors Oak and Carolina, and Cynthia – who had managed to acquire a backpack and camping gear in one of Cerulean City's many stores, the next morning.

"Be safe Cynthia," said her grandmother and she gave her a hug. "I expect a call every time you come across a videophone."

"I will, Grandmother," she replied. "I love you."

"I love you too, Cynthia."

With waves and calls of 'goodbye' the trio walked out of Cerulean City.

o0o0o0o

Misty woke up in the early hours of the morning after the first night of their trek to Vermilion City to find Cynthia up and sipping a cup of something warm in front of the dying embers of the fire.

"Can't get to sleep?" asked Misty causing Cynthia to give a small jump.

"I guess," she replied once she had checked she hadn't spilt anything on her brand new hiking outfit. "Just my first night of my journey; I mean I've been camping before but this is different."

"No adults?" suggested Misty.

"I guess," she replied again. "It just feels different."

"I guess," replied Misty with a small snort eliciting a small giggle from Cynthia.

"What was bothering you?" asked Cynthia.

"I – uh," Misty wasn't sure why she decided to tell Cynthia, but she did. "My sisters and the gym."

Misty gave Cynthia a very weak and sad smile.

"The gym was mum's life's work; she put so much effort into it but… she's gone," explained Misty. "I… I always thought my sisters would be just as interested as I was in preserving that legacy but they weren't."

Misty gave a sigh.

"I hardly even remember mum but I wanted to do everything I could to preserve her memory. Still, I think I got through to Daisy; she practically raised me and I hope she'll at least try her best to run the gym and keep Violet and Lily in line."

"You were really young, weren't you, when she died?" asked Cynthia.

"Yea," replied Misty in almost a whisper.

"A lot of people died," said Cynthia sadly.

After several seconds and a glance at the sleeping form of Ash through the entrance to the tent Misty replied.

"A lot did," she replied just as sadly.

Giving the blond a small smile in the dark Misty tried to move onto a happier topic.

"So when are you go to challenge the Cerulean Gym then, if you're entering the Indigo League?"

Cynthia gave a mirthful huff.

"When I catch some more Pokémon, Misty."

* * *

**So yea, I'm not entirely happy with this; I feel I really have fucked Cynthia up.**

**The chapter took so long because I first got stuck on Misty meeting her sisters, then I got stuck on starting the battle (though it was easy to write once I started) and the whole way through I kept thinking I'm mutilating several characters.**

**I chose to OOC Misty's sisters a bit. In their first episode they hate battling and don't like Misty but suddenly like her again when she does well in a battle. It was a bit lame. I've rewritten them based on what I saw in later episodes and from that side episodes: Misty has a pretty decent relationship with Daisy while Lily and Violet are hardly seen or mentioned. So I like to assume Daisy cares more about the gym.**

**I'm only going to mention the war occasionally and it won't make a major plot point (I think). I also forgot to mention; I chose to have Ash and Pikachu's relationship already established because we've all seen how it goes and it's boring as Hell to see them becoming best friends again every time you read a new fic so I skipped over it.**

**Comments and criticism for the first time I've ever written a battle of any kind are needed please!**

**Please favourite, follow and review.**

**AN 1 - Fixed a few typos, rewrote one paragraph because it was unclear.**


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